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Publisher responds to ‘pay to play’ pushback
By Guy Page
Thank you for reading the Vermont Daily Chronicle. We work hard to deliver independent reporting, strong commentary, and reader conversation you won’t find anywhere else.
Reading and commenting on the Vermont Daily Chronicle has always been free. Last week, however, I unveiled the first ever quid-pro-quo offer to our readers, made necessary by the ever-rising cost of publishing online news.
We announced that while reading VDC will be free, after January 1 only Sustaining Subscribers will be allowed to comment. Also after January 1 the annual cost of a Sustaining Subscription will rise from $108 ($9 per month) to $132 ($11 per month).
The good news is that you can lock in for 2026 at the current rate: if you haven’t done so yet, please click on this link to do so. Whether or not you plan to comment, because believe me people, it’s all hands on deck. If you’re already a recurring monthly subscriber, you don’t need to do anything – consider yourself locked in for 2026.
To the readers who have since answered our call…. thank you, merci, tusen tak, danke, spacebo, gratia, gratia, gratia.
Most of your responses have been understanding. Most people realize that ‘free’ news, isn’t. Someone is selling your data behind your back. Or else a sugar daddy funder is pulling the strings on news coverage while shutting down comments.
Or, more likely, both.
VDC doesn’t sell your data to anyone. Neither does some shadowy wealthy person or NGO write the checks in order to call the shots. (And yes, some have tried.)
Instead, hundreds of readers write checks or give online and trust the editors to call the editorial shots. And when they don’t like what they read, they let us know, and we almost always respond in some way. It’s responsive, you-help-me, I-help-you smalltown journalism on a statewide scale on a digital platform.
Sure, there have been a few uncharitable ‘so now it’s pay to play?’ comments. Including some from people who have commented for years on VDC. To which I can only respond, VDC offers you an unparalleled free speech megaphone to Vermont. VDC is read by all political creatures great and small. I know this because when commentaries and comments hit a nerve, the poohbahs of BOTH parties have been known to write us terse notes and/or stop talking to us.
That’s the price a free press pays to stand tall in the free speech arena.
However, I do feel bad that some folks, including our elders on fixed incomes, are having to make tough choices about spending even as little as $9/month. I urge them to continue reading, to submit letters to the editor (free when published), and to comment on our Facebook and X pages.
Becoming a 2026 Sustaining Subscriber at the current low rate until Jan. 1 is simple:
• To contribute $9 monthly on a recurring basis, please click here.
• To contribute $108 for one annual Sustaining Subscription, please click here.
To contribute $216 for two annual Sustaining Subscriptions, please clickhere.
If you prefer to mail a check (suggested annual contribution $108):
Vermont Daily Chronicle, P.O. Box 1547, Montpelier, Vermont, 05601.
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Categories: Letter from the Publisher
Re: “Most people realize that ‘free’ news, isn’t.”
This is a deflection, to be sure.
As one of the (if not the only) authors of the… [few uncharitable ‘so now it’s pay to play?’ comments. Including some from people who have commented for years on VDC], …. my previous retort said nothing about ‘free news’.
My concern was, and still is, whether or not having to pay for the privilege to comment on VDC is truly ‘free speech’.
“Free speech” traditionally means the ability to express oneself without government censorship or prior restraint. In the private-sector context (especially online platforms), it has come to mean “we won’t silence or deplatform you for your views.” Charging money to allow someone to speak turns speech from a right (or at least an open privilege) into a commodity. That directly contradicts the plain meaning of “free” in “free speech.”
This isn’t a plea for charitable help – Page Communications is a media firm operating as a for-profit entity that generates revenue through advertising, donations, and content. And now it will require a subscription fee in order for readers to fully participate – which it has every right to do.
But what are we being asked to support with our subscriptions? Is it just VDC that’s growing? Or are we now required to subsidize the Burlington Daily News (BDN) and WDEV radio too? After all, BDN charges for its subscriptions separately. And WDEV radio advertises and raises money separately too.
We’re being asked to ‘invest’. But what is the ROI? Is it simply the privilege of, as one commenter often characterizes it, ‘keyboard thumping’? Or can our comments sometimes be considered as a value-added commodity as well?
A spade is a spade. The hypocrisy is now threefold. VDC is a for profit corporation. This is not a ‘free news’ debate. It’s a ‘free speech’ debate. And while some of us have been commenting for years, Guy conveniently doesn’t mention that some of us have been contributing for years too…. but apparently, just not enough. Especially given that some of us will criticize anyone and everyone who, in our minds, deserve it.
Personally have mixed feelings on this. Understand that there are expenses to be paid, but will we be speaking to the choir? Also, this will take 50% of my EBT 3 Squares monthly allotment payment
I don’t subscribe to the Brattleboro Reformer, yet I can send a comment to the paper free of charge, granted there is no guarantee it would be posted and/or posted. Also, being on a fixed income now, how about at least some kind of “AARP” discount.
Update, “posted and/or posted”, meant “posted and/or published”
Does paying the annual fee mean I can “like” a comment without logging (always unsuccessfully) to WordPress.com?
My wife paid one hundred eight dollars in Aug. 2025, now is that good until Aug. 2026 or should I send in another payment before Jan. 1 2026????