Unlock Some Media Paywalls With a Subscription to a News Aggregator

How many times have you clicked on a link to an enticing news article only to be denied access?

The days of unlimited free news from many legitimate websites are gone. Paywalls, which became popular among publishers about 15 years ago, often keep nonsubscribers from reading content.

That’s understandable. The human journalists who take the time to dig into the facts for these stories and the companies that employ them need to make a living.

But the frustration can be high for readers. And few people want to subscribe to multiple news sites.

A win-win solution: Paid aggregators. Apple News and Apple News+, available only on Apple devices, and Google News and Scribd, available on both Android and Apple platforms, offer subscriptions with access to numerous media outlets.

With any of these services, you can select your favorite news organizations and receive individual articles based on your interests. The media companies get paid through your blanket subscription.

“I’m a big fan of news aggregators and apps,” says Kymberly Deane, a senior manager with the nonpartisan, nonprofit News Literacy Project. “I love having the ability to customize my news feed to topics I really care about and having a range of sources to refer to conveniently.”

A bonus: News aggregators vet the sources they include in their services, the News Literacy Project says. So you won’t find “pink slime” websites or stories made up by artificial intelligence bots.

3 of the best-known news aggregation services

Google News, also available on the web, is free. Publishers don’t submit their site or individual stories to Google News. Instead, Google uses its proprietary algorithms to discover news stories, videos and interactives across the web. The caveat: You may click through to a preview of the content or be asked to subscribe to a site if you’ve visited a certain number of times during a month.

Apple News, the free part of the Apple app, delivers stories from various media outlets throughout the day. The selection is increasingly personalized as you read more, but you also may hit some paywalls.