I received a letter yesterday from my local newspaper, informing me that my ~$10/month subscription for web access will be increased to $20/month.

I realize that I'm at a station in life where the extra $120/yr really doesn't have that much of an effect, but this still irks me somewhat. I should say that I subscribe to my local newspaper begrudgingly and out of necessity. When the pandemic started, my wife and I realized that we have the faintest idea of what goes on in our town (of 250k, also the state capital), and that we really should know a bit more.

We have derived some values from it, but the ratio of dollar/worthy news seems already low. For instance, one of the enduring features is titled Expensive (or historic/ newly constructed/ adjective du jour) homes in [the local area], and it's literally just a list of a bunch of properties along with the words taken verbatim from the listing ad. I mean, most of those I've come across simply by going on Zillow, and without any concrete analysis, it's no more than a puff piece. Then there was an article on a petition to recall the mayor, and the journalist writing the piece basically took the words of the lead petitioner that the latter is non-partisan, despite the fact that he was known to have ran for public office as a GOP candidate only four years earlier (which is something this paper's sibling publication pointed out when writing about the same petition). I emailed the editors and received no response; nor was there any correction made to the article. I got the distinct sense that these people gives close to zero effs. On the other hand, there really is no one else reporting on candidates for local elections.

So I'm at a conundrum. Should I continue my subscription? It'll be twice the amount I pay for the WaPo and about $40 more than what I pay for The Guardian (which I gladly pay, at least for the soccer coverage and cultures section). My heart says no, but my head says yes, especially given how many local newspapers have gone under in the past decade plus, and this is perhaps the real cost of keeping (mediocre) local journalism alive.