This article consists of my gripes over the Daily Herald paywall, and a link to a way to bypass it. If you’re just here to see how to bypass it, scroll down.

My Gripes

At the time of writing this I don’t own a smart phone or an iPad (there is no market for other tablets) so I don’t know the joys of being able to pick up a little electronic device and read the news from anywhere at any time. This is probably why I still prefer to read the news on actual printed paper. I don’t subscribe to any papers though since between work, classes, hobbies, and other obligations there isn’t time to sit down and scan through an entire newspaper. So instead I follow local news outlets on Twitter. When an interesting sounding story comes up I click on it. I used to do this a lot with the Daily Herald, a suburban Chicago newspaper, until they set up a paywall with a limit of 15 free pageviews in a calendar month. Now I hardly ever go to the site. I imagine many other people have adopted the same tactic. It’s easier to avoid than fight or give in.

I don’t have a problem with paying for news. I would love to pay the Daily Herald for their reporting, I really would. I would pay the Chicago Tribune or Sun Times too. I think that these newspapers are great and definitely deserve the revenue. However, the Daily Herald thought a bit too much of itself when it established the paywall. You either subscribe to the DH digital edition or you don’t. No tiered approach. No desktop only, or iPhone only, or iPad only, or any combination of these. It’s all or nothing. And then they decided to screw the print subscribers (to put it mildly) by charging them $1 per week to view the digital edition (See Subscription Options). I’m sure there’s some reasoning here, probably to have numbers to tout at advertisers, but there has to be a better way of doing this. If I subscribe to the print edition I shouldn’t have to pay you extra to view the same material on the computer. This is akin to having to pay for both a CD and mp3s of that CD. Even the New York Times gives print subscribers free access to all of their online content. All of it, for free. They also have tiered digital subscriptions, and their lowest priced subscription, which consists of smart phone and desktop access, is cheaper than the Daily Herald plan. Hubris overflows at the Daily Herald.

Let’s back up a little bit. I follow local news feeds, including the Daily Herald, on Twitter. This way, even if the story doesn’t look interesting enough to click the link, I at least know it happened. I really like to be informed (which again is why I would love to pay for news, just not at premium DH prices). The past couple times that I’ve clicked on a story link through Twitter though, the Daily Herald has loaded and then come up with an onscreen pop-up saying the article is for digital subscribers only. That’s fine, but why did you link to it on Twitter? You’re broadcasting to the entire world that which only a limited number of people are able to access. And no, I’m not going to pay $2.99 just to view this article, but thanks for the offer.

The Daily Herald has a right, or an opportunity at least, to make a profit by selling online subscriptions, just not at the price they are charging. Here’s an idea: create a basic plan that costs somewhere between $5-10 per month. I’ll pay that. I’ll tell everyone I know to pay that. Also, stop screwing your print subscribers.

Off topic, but interesting: the Daily Herald iPad app is getting rave reviews.

Bypassing the Paywall

Someone found a way to bypass the paywall by editing your hosts file. Feel free to give it a try