Built on a capitalist framework, the United States has continuously encouraged a free market, laissez-faire economic policies, and domestic businesses. These systems, however, have a profound impact on the general public and their access to basic necessities such as healthcare, education, news, and more. These socioeconomic and political imbalances that plague the United States combined with a heightened capitalist mindset only widen the gap between the poor and the rich.
One of the most dangerous ways that the elite gain power, wealth, and advantages compared to the working class is in the way they access news. Major publications such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Atlantic have strict paywalls on their websites, restricting access to quality accounts of current events. These major sites can cost anywhere from $4 to $14 per month, which can easily add up to around $170 spent on just one news outlet each year.
The Harvard Business School reports that The New York Times made the decision to keep every article behind a paywall in 2011, except for a select twenty free articles per month, which has since been reduced to ten per month. However, the website publishes an average of 200 articles each day, covering different aspects of local, regional, and global issues; the disparity that poorer people face is glaringly obvious with journalism and news itself being locked away.
With fake news and propaganda disguising itself as “real” news, the working class is most vulnerable to a lack of “hard” or quality news. Without cross-checking sources, reviewing definitions, and researching an author’s credibility, it can be difficult to detect whether a news article is trustworthy or not, yet these safety measures can only be taken by someone who has the time and access to do so.
Education is key in a complex society such as ours—while most people believe that learning stops after an organized education in school, staying involved in current social, economic, and political events is key to keeping a brain sharp. Especially during an election, unbiased news is crucial to voters deciding which candidate they would rather vote for. Without an unbiased view that credible sources provide, these working class members are left to fend for themselves. Unlike people with the disposable income to spend on news outlets, the working class either absorbs incorrect and biased news or consumes none at all. This leaves public discourse to the wealthy elite who are the most informed about the modern political landscape; once again, a capitalist motive removes the poor majority from the equation and favors the rich minority.
While paywalls may be necessary for companies to properly compensate their employees, other methods can be taken to increase revenue. For instance, news outlets can collaborate with reputable companies to advertise on their websites. The New York Times themselves report that in August the company’s total advertising revenue added up to $119.2 million, up around 7% from last year; if newspapers were to focus on increasing their profits from advertising, rather than subscriptions, they could spearhead a movement toward increasing equity.
As of today, people of lower socioeconomic statuses are continuously ignored, as if their hands don’t tend to the backbone of American society each day. Without the working class, we would be unable to function; we must focus on listening to their pleas rather than minimizing them as capitalism has conditioned us to do.
