Editorial of June 18, 2026

Paywalls, News Deserts and 218 Years of Original Reporting

This past week, two unrelated yet equally perplexing entries on Facebook sparked our interest. The first, a comment in response to our “Top Headlines: June 11, 2026” graphic, posted on June 11, was “Gotta pay for this?” after hitting the AllOtsego.com paywall. Our reply: “We are a paid newspaper/news website with a 218-year history in Otsego County. It would be great if people would work for free, but sadly they expect to be paid. Please consider giving us a read.”

Now, this is not the first time that question has been posed, nor will it be the last. But it continues to bewilder us. We liken spending the $1.00 for a copy of our newspapers to buying a cup of coffee. No one would expect to enter Baked and Brewed Cafe, or Stagecoach Coffee, for instance, and walk out without paying for their morning cup of joe. Why, then, would anyone think coverage of local news would be free?

There are many expenses associated with producing “The Freeman’s Journal,” “Hometown Oneonta” and AllOtsego.com, just as with any business—employee salaries, taxes, printing, mailing and delivery expenses, computers, software, electric, Internet, etc. Running an independent, locally-owned media outlet comes at a cost. So, please do consider giving us a read. And yes, ya gotta pay.

The second post was a real head-scratcher. It read: “I’m trying to get a handle on whether folks in the Cooperstown region would be supportive of having a new local news outlet whose strength is original reporting. What ingredients would you like to see in local news reporting?” The author went on to say that “our region has become a news desert.” He wants to “construct a respectable news outlet tackling major issues without fear or favor.”