[Freedom of the Press Foundation]

Wired is going to stop paywalling articles that are primarily based on public records obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.

This approach makes a ton of sense:

"They’re called public records for a reason, after all. And access to public documents is more important than ever at this moment, with government websites and records disappearing, Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency doing its best to operate outside the public’s view, and the National Archives in disarray."

Paywalls have long presented a challenge for service-based journalism: stories make the most impact when they're available to everybody, but newsrooms also need to cover their bills and make enough money to continue operations. When stories are based on public data, like FOIA requests, another level of public responsibility is added to the equation: these are public documents that belong to all of us.

I wish more online newsrooms would move to a patronage model (see The Guardian), but this isn't always possible. Someone always brings up micropayments in these conversations, but they do not work and have never worked. This hybrid model - public service articles for free, the rest behind the paywall - may point to a way forward.

#Media

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