That's a good discussion, but improving the model and sustaining the institution are orthogonal.
I do agree though that a lot of the problems are structural and systemic - that also does not negate the public's negative outlook towards journalism, or the sense of entitlement (read the comments here).
I do agree though that not enough tech people who can afford to don't pay for their news. Why? IDK. How to make them? Well maybe this post will persuade a few to do that.
The different is that in the 90s, there was no clear evidence for pessimism about the future. The same is not true now.
Standard of living for most Americans is actually bad right now - trillions of student loan, no prospect of home ownership, no jobs, extreme income interest, weak authoritian governments,and let me know even start of climate change.
But hey, we have a new iPhone so I guess it's all fine.
That's awesome and I've tried nextdns and loved it. But - and this is just me - I just don't trust anyone to delete my logs or not log in the first place.
That's why I'll probably not move off of my pihole
For that reason, I mostly get books from not the most legal sources, and then buy a copy from a local bookstore. I either donate that book to a library or give it to a friend as a gift.
I get what I want while supporting a local bookstore and the author.
Here's mine: Jekyll blog with no js. Git push to my home server [1]. It runs in a docker container with a watch. The simplicity means adding a tor proxy in front was as easy as running another container.
It's a very well built notes app, cross-platform. The dev team makes really solid decisions (they say no more than any other company to feature requests).
I'm in no way affiliated to them, just a happy paid customer who agrees with their mission and values.