Because without those "un-needed intermediaries" paying the bill for AP content, the AP couldn't afford to run. And I'm guessing this then makes it OK for there to be only 1 source of news by your claims then as well. No chance for bias there eh?
Are you that impressionable that you run out to buy every little thing that is shown to you? How do you propose that journalism, creative works, and other medias that are heavily supported by ads exist?
Pretty much everyone in this thread says they won't do payment, will block ads, and seemingly has a problem with people earning a living who aren't software developers or startup owners.
You're missing the point that people are paying for Netflix/HBO as a premium/luxury service while many in this thread claim they won't even pay for content they like and will instead just ad block.
You can bitch all you want about the poor state of journalism, but the institutions that are trying to maintain it in a market where no one wants to pay for it are struggling. People won't pay subscriptions (the majority), don't want ads, but still want all that content.
The startup/software development equivalent is open source but that only works for largely one group of people: well off white males.
Not all news and content creation can be done as a side job or hobby. The people who do journalism, create content, or support that goal of quality journalism need to make a living somehow.
Those are all subscription or donation (wikipedia) based examples. A lot of sites could never survive on those models or obtain the resources to manage them.
I'm all for blocking sites that abuse their users.
I worked for public media, the only ads we have are VERY basic PNGs served by DoubleClick or house membership ads for donations. Newsroom != newspaper and your assumption of how all news sites operate based on a few examples is incorrect.
What a magical world you live in where everything is free and no one needs to be paid for their work.
Ads have been abused by companies over the years but whitelisting sites that whose content and services you value and don't abuse you with those ads are the only reason they can afford to exist.
Edit: I get it, you don't want ads. People have abused them over the years and that's bad. My only point is that whitelisting (or donating/subscribing to where possible) the sites you value keeps those sites running. It's nice that some sites don't need financial support to pay for reporters, editors, producers, and photographers but that's not the case for many sites that do great journalism.
I've worked on numerous elections, data projects, and interactives over the past few years. They're a great asset but the narrative behind them is just as important.
I've had reporters say "I found some data, can we do something with it" and it's not nearly as useful as "I'm writing a story about X, how can we use this data to visualize Y to illustrate X?". It's amazing just how rare that understanding can be from traditional media folks.
As a developer in a newsroom who had no intention of ending up here, it is amazing to see the transition in my industry and just how many companies are eager to hire developers who understand journalism or at least are willing to partner with reporters and editors.
I can't say it's what I expected to be doing but news organizations are in a period of massive change and it's an interesting space to be in.
I work in a newsroom as a developer. It is often a perfectly stressful situation made worse by an open office and my own personal inability to "turn off" as you mentioned.
I love my job and consider myself pretty good at it, but feel a constant stress and anxiety that I MUST channel. There are times when I simply am unable to do that and shut down mentally for a couple of hours and would love to know more about what you've done or attempted to address this issue for yourself.
I worry that while this makes me very effective at my job, I'm damaging my long term health and sanity.
I just left a WeWork office (Boston) while waiting for an office to be renovated.
Things I won't miss:
The sound of a Ping Pong ball hitting the
table and paddles at 2pm every day.
The word "hustle"
The people who thought it'd be fine to
do photo shoots/meetings/interviews in the common areas
Glass walls EVERYWHERE
Garmin has a much better offering in their Vivosmart product. Every Fitbit I've owned has failed within 4-5 months and their very developer hostile when it comes to data export and access to your own step data.
Posted this below:
Why do that when they can create a unique URL and data mine who you share the link with or where you post it? Publishers call it "dark social" where there are no referrers such as IM, Text, or chat services like Slack, Hipchat, etc.
Why do that when they can create a unique URL And data mine who you share the link with or where you post it? People call it "dark social" where there are no referrers such as IM, Text, or chat services like Slack, Hipchat, etc.