Wow this is a great article, thanks for sharing. This quote in particular has a lot to unpack:

We are not chasing platform traffic, we’re not chasing social video views, we’re not doing sponsored content to make our business go like everyone else is forced to do. If you want to go play in those games, you have no choice but to do sponsor integrations. That’s just how those businesses work. We won’t do it, we sell our ethics policy.

The Verge’s decision to raise a paywall comes at a moment when many news media companies are grappling with the dilemma of an emerging gulf between the information ecosystems of free and paid news. As more media companies lean into subscriptions to drive revenue, the reach and impact of their news stories is often limited, or targeted more toward an affluent, educated audience willing to pay for news.>

That must be really challenging if you run an ethical journalism organization. Gone are the days of paying for newspapers, people now expect it for free, and that's not sustainable for a regular business. So it creates a moral dilemma for ethical journalists, who naturally want to continue to reach a large audience and worry about alienating people who can't afford subscriptions.

The free news sites don't have that same quandary. They make money by selling your data, so they remain free. Since it's what the people want, they don't think about the fact that this is achieved by unethical means. These people are already predisposed to be less educated due to income levels alone, meaning they're less likely to perform the critical thinking necessary to realize that journalism - ethics = fake news. Talk about a vicious cycle.

I know I'm not saying anything that people who've been paying attention the past 8 years don't already know, but when you really think about all the implications it's kind of astounding. >