You should not have to pay for access to information that could save your life. If you are living in the path of a natural disaster, you should not have to miss out on vital updates just because you used up your monthly allowance of free articles.
In anticipation of this issue, several newspapers have announced recently they will lift their paywalls for coverage of hurricanes.
Participating local papers included the Houston Chronicle for Hurricane Harvey and the Miami Herald and Orlando Sentinel for Hurricane Irma. Coverage of both storms is free on national outlets such as the New York Times and the Washington Post.
The motivation is simple. “We hope our reporting can help people stay safe,” the Times tweeted Sunday.
Despite the well-documented decline of American newspapers, it is heartening to see that these organizations are willing to make sacrifices for the public good. Price gouging is a serious issue during times of natural disasters, with outrageous increases in the prices of everything from water bottles to hotel rooms.
Taking advantage of the vulnerable position into which devastating storms force millions of people is cruel, so I am glad to see that the cost of information has not taken its cues from the trend that many basic needs follow in times of crisis.
So often, I write in disappointment or indignation that things are not as they should be. And of course, two of the most basic functions that a column can perform are to identify a problem and to offer a solution.
In this case, however, I am giving my support to a solution that already exists. I am celebrating a moment in which my fellow Americans are choosing to do the right thing.
If I were to read the mood of our nation the way I read novels for class, it would not be difficult to make the case that a theme of disillusionment is running pretty strong through our collective pathos. From neo-Nazi surges in Charlottesville, Virginia to the impending end of DACA, fodder for dissatisfaction is not hard to find.
And don’t get me wrong, I sometimes hate the exact kind of tone that I am about to take. Optimism can very easily slip into idealism, which can then seem trite, naïve and even insulting in the face of serious problems.
Personally, I do prefer to turn to hope. I hope that the temporary suspension of paywalls will save lives and that those lives will be successfully rebuilt. I hope that the current trend of courtesy shown by both local and national news outlets will continue when the next disaster inevitably arrives, and I think that it should.
It is fine if you would rather be angry than hopeful. Whatever emotion gives you the most powerful sense of motivation to change what needs changing is the one you should use as fuel. But no matter what keeps you going, make sure that you do keep going.
Because what we really need in times of crisis is the will to go on.
mareklei@indiana.edu
@foreverfloral97
