Abonnez-Vous?: Please, don’t block access to COVID-19-related news behind paywalls.
Probably one of the most productive things I’m doing amidst the pandemic-induced reduction of human activity is tracking the spread of COVID-19 in Switzerland (where I study, and where I am currently stranded because of flight cancellations), neighboring countries, and Syria (where I’m from). The cases in Switzerland are on the rise, with almost 20k cases recorded. The situation in Syria isn’t looking too bright either, as the government starts to impose travel restrictions around the country to stop the spread of COVID-19, which already infected 16 people and killed 2.
Now, tracking the Coronavirus in Switzerland is not that hard, because it’s almost the only thing on the news right now; the Swiss Federal Council has a press conference every couple of days to update the 8 million citizens and residents about the current situation and many websites provide a detailed visualization of the active cases and deaths daily.
But that’s not the case with many news websites. In the middle of the pandemic, some major publications still have their Coronavirus coverage blocked by a paywall, which means one cannot access the news about the Coronavirus in Switzerland without paying for premium content. The publications try to coerce users to sign up; Some websites will sign you up for a 2-week free trial, some will show some basic articles about COVID-19 but will hide some content, while some others simply won’t show content unless you subscribe to their premium services, or as they like to ask in French-speaking countries: Abonnez-Vous maintenant.
These are extraordinary times, where the situation is constantly changing. Everyone needs to be able to know and fully grasp what’s going on, what are the latest updates and how to spread awareness about the virus, but not everyone can have access to paywalled content. Not having enough money to pay for monthly subscriptions (which cost a lot in Switzerland for people without a stable source of income), not being able to pay online, or simply not grasping how to subscribe and pay creates a true digital divide between people who are more economically and technologically privileged and those who are not. While I do agree that paywalled content is not a bad idea at all, I don’t think such critically important news and coverage should have restricted access to them. This doesn’t apply only to Switzerland, but to any country where people need to be more aware of what’s exactly happening. The New York Times did a great job with making their coronavirus coverage free for all, and I think other major publications should do the same step, for the sake of eliminating any risk of people not knowing what’s going on.
Some will say: “It’s not necessary to subscribe to more than one, they all have the same news anyway”. Well, when I read somewhere on Facebook that the Syrian government was covering up cases and that there was more than 10k cases in Syria, I had to rush and check every major publication I knew, because one news source can be quite misleading, especially for an 18-year-old living abroad alone in Europe (the center of the pandemic now). In these times, fact-checking is quite important, especially when wrong or fake news reports can trigger widespread panic and fear.
So please, let’s leave the Coronavirus news out of paywalls.
