Washington Post Institutes a $9.99 Payment Per Week

No, Amazingly They Don’t Pay Readers That to Read the Post, They Expect Readers to Pay Them

The Washington Post will soon require readers who want to view more than 20 articles per month to pay a monthly fee.

Our digital packages will be priced at $9.99 per month for access to the desktop and mobile web only and $14.99 for an all-digital package which includes access to all of The Post’s custom apps. Home delivery subscribers will continue to have complimentary access to all of The Post’s digital products.

Now the Post used to be one of the great papers of all time, and it still has bursts of journalism that make one remember just how strong and vibrant a newspaper it was.  But in a desperate attempt to remain relevant, the Post has largely abandoned real reporting.  Its editorials often reflect knee jerk right wing conservatism, it is afraid to offend the right wing, it employs and gives voice to a large number of right wing hacks and it appears its sole purpose is to emulate the Wall Street Journal.  It even fails in that.

So when one first saw that a $9.99 payment per month would be implemented, the immediate thought was that this is what the Post should be paying people to view it on a regular basis.  The idea of paying $10.00 a month to view the Post is similar to the idea of paying to watch commercials on TV.  The Post is currently viewed for free, which when one takes into account the ads on the site is about the value of the service.