How to sleep on a paywall

Author Elisha Dacey

I struggle with the fact that society expects two things from me, professionally. First, to give away for free the fruits of my labour, like news stories, music performances and event hosting, while, second, paying out-of-pocket for the fruits of everyone else’s labour, like shelter, clothing, and kitty litter.

As I am not independently wealthy, this presents a conundrum. Like most journalists, I enjoy doing frivolous things that cost money, like eating or sleeping on beds.

To keep journalists from starving and napping in puddles, we used to pay for newspaper, cable TV, and radio ads so that journalists would get paid. (I know, I’m simplifying, but go with me, folks.)

Then the internet came along, and publishers started giving away the fruits of our labour for free, creating the expectation that this could go on forever. (In hindsight, this was stupid. But we were so excited about the internet!)

Then, publishers ran out of money to pay us. Whoops. So they put up paywalls.

And I hate paywalls. I hate them so much, people! 

Paywalls restrict the free-flow of necessary, vital information – information that I believe everyone should have, regardless of their ability to pay. 

For those of us in the non-profit and social good sector, that goes double. No one else is exclusively covering this sector in Canada! It’s a huge gap that we have tried to address with … a paywall. 

We did this because my reporters also like to do silly things like eat food and sleep on beds (see: the beginning of this rant.)

But I can’t handle it anymore. I want everyone to be able to read what we report on, because it is so, so important. 

Non-profits step in where policy fails, and governments NEED to be constantly reminded of that.

So, we are trying something new to bring down Future of Good’s paywall forever, while still paying my journalists for written content. 

We have an ambitious fundraising goal of $150,000, which will be matched by several sponsors, and we’re gonna spam you all week with information about it. (Sorry.)

By buying a “brick” to remove from our paywall, you help yourself and other changemakers access our stories, pressure governments that otherwise don’t pay attention, and keep our journalists fed and sleeping on beds.

We can’t eat or sleep on paywalls. Please join us.

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  • Elisha Dacey is a seasoned journalist with more than two decades of experience in the field. She has worked in various newsrooms across Canada, ranging from small-town papers to major outlets like CBC Manitoba and Global News. Dacey began her journalism career in Manitoba and has held roles such as managing editor, senior producer and digital online journalist. Notably, she launched Metro Winnipeg, the city’s only free daily newspaper, which quickly became the second most-read paper in Winnipeg.

    Elisha Dacey is the Managing Editor for Future of Good.

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