Muncie’s Traci Markcum remembers when the news was free. The Indiana citizen wants a return to those carefree days.
“I think it is pretty bad The Star Press is trying to charge people to read the paper online,” she wrote in a letter to the editor. “Whatever happened to being able to see the news on the Web for free?”
Free? Well, you can find plenty of news on the internet for free, sorta, once you’ve bought a computer and Internet access — and paid the electric bill, of course. In the really olden days, before cable TV, network news was free once you had a TV set. (Why computer and television manufacturers, internet providers and electric companies dare to charge us money, when we’re simply being good citizens and keeping up on current affairs, I’ll never know.)
Ms. Markcum “used to buy the Sunday paper and would read the news at work or on the go on [her] phone, but not now.” Not now, because The Star Press has “stooped to a new low by having to charge Muncie citizens who live and work in the city a fee to read something. Your paper prices have increased and people cannot afford to get the paper.”
In fact, Markcum became so desperate, she asked, “Are we supposed to start stealing the news you are supposed to be providing?”
Paperboys beware!
“Go back to the way it used to be, or lose a lot more customers,” she concluded.
Customers? A customer “purchases a commodity or service.”
For its part, The Star Press tells online visitors to “Enjoy a limited number of articles over the next 30 days” offering a button to “Subscribe today for full access.”
Oh, the humanity!
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.