Although blog and social media sites allow anyone to be a journalist, the pay-for newspaper is a necessity for an informed society.

One advantage pay-for local newspapers have over other media types is their static layout that allows readers to find articles efficiently. I contrast, other media types, such as blogs and news broadcasts, are dynamic, preventing consumers from screening material that dos not interest them.

A positive attribute of pay-for newspapers is their ability to tailor news to local communities. This is because the average newspaper is based locally and staffed by people with local interests.

Large media outlets, such as cable news network, are often staffed by people living hundreds of miles away from their consumers, resulting in aloofness toward the needs of the individual community.

The newspaper’s benefits are contingent upon being funded by subscription fees.

Another advantage of the pay-for newspaper is its ability to staff more news reporters than free newspapers. Pay-for newspapers can afford to have reporters covering single beats, such as city hall and county government, San Jose City College broadcasting instructor Betsy Gebhart wrote in an email.

Pay-for newspapers’ diminished reliance on advertisements for revenue results in fewer ads, allowing readers to reach content without having to sift through pages of ads. In addition to being time consuming, excessive advertising damages the credibility of journalism.

Pay-for newspapers have the resources to pay for lawsuits that protect First Amendment rights, California State University, Fullerton journalism professor Genelle Belmas wrote in an email.

If the pay-for newspaper were lost, the ramifications would echo across all realms of free speech and press. To keep society informed and important issues investigated, the public must be educated about the importance of the pay-for newspaper, for if the pay-for newspaper becomes extinct, the informed individual will follow.