John,
We want to be upfront with you:
When legacy outlets like The New York Times or The Wall Street Journal put their reporting behind paywalls, most people don’t subscribe. They don’t read the story. They move on.
What they find next is whatever the algorithm hands them — and for nearly a decade, that has meant MAGA propaganda.
So let’s be honest about the stakes: in an era where the President of the United States generates a nonstop firehose of lies, paywalls don’t protect journalism. They protect Trump’s bullshit.
It’s Fox News or Megyn Kelly. Conspiracy TikToks. YouTube grifters. The right-wing Facebook posts from your neighbor that are always free, loud, and available for anyone to see.
That’s why COURIER refuses to use paywalls. But keeping our journalism free only works with grassroots support — so before we go further, we want to ask:
Paywalls don’t just change who reads the news. They change what kind of information spreads.
When real reporting disappears behind a credit card screen, lies and conspiracy theories rush in to fill the vacuum — especially for people who can’t afford multiple news subscriptions.
Young voters. People in news deserts. Swing voters in battleground states.
These are the same audiences authoritarian movements target first — with fear, grievance, and divisive propaganda designed to replace facts with resentment.
That’s why MAGA media is thriving and it’s why our communities are so divided.
They rely on outrage, repetition, and reach.
And COURIER was built to break that model.
We keep our reporting free to anyone who wants to read it — in inboxes, on social platforms, and directly in battleground communities — because democracy only works if people can actually access the truth.
No corporate gatekeepers. No paywalls hiding critical information. And no fear of Trump or retribution.
Just courageous journalism — available to anyone who wants it.
But that model only works because of people like you.
In solidarity,
The COURIER Team