Have you ever donated to The Guardian and why?

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Frosty_Leg4438@reddit

I used to, simply because I liked the idea of a left wing media, not controlled by advertisements, existing as a good thing for the world. However the guardian a while ago seemed to switch from being balanced to being almost entirely un-bearably negative (yes the world is pretty shit... but not all of it), and I decided it's constant articles about doom, outrage and negativity weren't good for the world/likely destroyed peoples sense of hope, so didn't want to fund them anymore.

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veryordinarybloke@reddit

I subscribe, because it is the one and only non-right-wing national (broadsheet) newspaper in the UK, and a vital source of corrective balance against the rest of the media. And apart from the Daily Express, every other UK paper has a wealthy foreign or non-dom owner. I look at the Guardian every day, so it makes moral sense to pay for it.

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Noon_Specialist@reddit

The Financial Times is better, but way to expensive.

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Life_Is_A_Mistry@reddit

They do a good set of free podcasts. Also, links from the podcast to the articles are free (for the daily briefing podcast anyway)

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farraigemeansthesea@reddit

Onwards to expensive!

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neilm1000@reddit

>And apart from the Daily Express, every other UK paper has a wealthy foreign or non-dom owner. The Express is owned by Reach, so you can include the Mirror in that.

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CarolTqw@reddit

Lol, never . i rather use auraread( . )me to skip paywalls

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Drammeister@reddit

That way we just end up with propaganda for and paid for billionaires and their interests.

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CarolTqw@reddit

lol what

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rybnickifull@reddit

Read proper newspapers and you might understand what they said.

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eyesonly456@reddit

Guardian is behind a paywall now, tried read an article the other day

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rewindanddeny@reddit

Not in the UK it isn't.

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eyesonly456@reddit

Well either my personal information is paying for it or I'm paying https://preview.redd.it/cgut97r7nxyg1.png?width=720&format=png&auto=webp&s=5ba05e69d33e5436d49a949d7c74cf718de923e8

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Lordaucklandx@reddit

On my browser in the uk, I just say no and I can read all the articles I want

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eyesonly456@reddit

Mine used to be the same it changed Thursday when I went to read something

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Lordaucklandx@reddit

Oh okay, maybe they doing that model now which is annoying as I just read the guardian at work haha

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eyesonly456@reddit

They were the last paper I was interested in that didn't have this model so it was annoying

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rybnickifull@reddit

Will be a lot more annoying if they disappear entirely in fairness.

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rewindanddeny@reddit

See what you did there etc.

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Master-Trick2850@reddit

guardian is written more like a blog wity those awful opinions articles they put out

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Euphoric-Orchid488@reddit

You know those are just in the opinion section though right?

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Beartato4772@reddit

Yep but you can't choose what your subscription pays for and it's paying for that.

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pretty_pink_opossum@reddit

Which is probably the most popular section to be fair, they figured out rage bait engagement at least a decade ago. Much to everyone's detriment, it's fascinating how we as humans actively seek out and engage with stuff that upsets and angers us

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Lordaucklandx@reddit

This comment is written like your opinion doesn’t align politically with the independently funded centre left newspaper, that you prefer a newspaper privately funded by billionaires to funnel right wing opinions as fact.

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Lovecraftian666@reddit

The comment above is written by a person so smug you can smell the farts from home

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Beartato4772@reddit

No because they're a transphobic shitrag.

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Pizzagoessplat@reddit

This is such a weird question. Why would I "donate" to a media company when I can get news for free from so many different sources?

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neo101b@reddit

Because its not a donation to a media company, its a donation to an ideological cause. It probably makes people fell better about them self's.

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Pizzagoessplat@reddit

Is this a serious answer?

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Quinncidental@reddit

I disagree. It is a contribution towards the production of a product that you enjoy, support, or both. It is far too simplistic to dismiss something because it might be idealogical. If we want to be reductive, we can consider absolutely everything to be an idealogical choice (and in many ways - given how privatised and business driven the world is - everything is an idealogical choice). We live in a world that is shaped by the choices we all make daily, and so making a choice to support something you believe is is a perfectly sensible thing to do. If it makes somebody feel better about themselves, then more power to them. We could all do with some more of that!

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juno-xwani@reddit (OP)

That's what I was wondering, if people can do this anyway why do so many people donate

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danpenny1@reddit

Do you think it’s a good thing for people who can afford it to donate to keep Wikipedia free?

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Quinncidental@reddit

You might ask this question again in ten years time. The difference then might be that there's no left wing media companies to balance what the right puts out. It is not weird to donate to causes and organisations you think are worthwhile.

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Belsnickel7777@reddit

I subscribe to it, it's basically the only alternative to pretty much every other news source in the UK that is owned by billionaires or a giant corporation. If the Guardian disappeared, we would essentially only have one viewpoint in mainstream news, as The Sun, The Times, Express, Mail , GB News etc are pretty much on the same page. Yes the Beeb exists, but it does feel like there's an agenda right now where an elite class of people only want one viewpoint represented and that's a problem. It's fine to disagree with the Guardian, I ignore some of their opinion pieces too but the reporting is pretty solid. There's a reason why the likes of Edward Snowden purposely selected the Guardian when he was going to whistleblow

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rewindanddeny@reddit

I probably would if I was an 'oppressed', 'progressive', high-earning, middle-class woman living in London, but i'm not their target market.

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rewindanddeny@reddit

I'm enjoying the likelihood that i'm getting downvoted because it'll be assumed that i'm right-wing, rather than someone comfortably to the left of the chattering classes of the 'centre' and their entitled navel-gazing.

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Lovecraftian666@reddit

Hahahah no and never effin will

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PaleConference406@reddit

Haha..my view exactly, getting the same downvotes as you too, likely from the same types that can neither tolerate differing views nor argue/defend their views. The epitome of safe spaces and deplatforming.

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pjwlondon@reddit

I subscribe to the print edition and donate pretty well the same as their discount for the subscription. I support them for all the reasons listed by others: it's important to have an independent voice trying to report objectively and not just reflecting the views of a proprietor, and the values the dominant right-wing press largely share.

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TheDawiWhisperer@reddit

I'd probably support the Guardian if they nagged me less intensely for money and also if they didn't _hate_ me for being a white, straight bloke

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Drammeister@reddit

Bloody hell, someone find me a tiny violin.

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PaleConference406@reddit

Nope, because they remove comments, factual, legitimate ones, which don't fit their narrative so they can fuck off. The fact that they (think they) know best whilst simultaneously begging for money also seems wasted on them.

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Only1Fab@reddit

Newspapers already support themselves with ads. I hate when they beg for money

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p14215@reddit

I have been a 'member' and a subscriber (different payments) for a number of years. This is because I believe too many media companies are owned and editorially directed by people whose social and political objectives I do not share. Do I agree with all Guardian positions on all social and political issues? No. But I remember a time when other papers/media had a semblance of balance I no longer recognise. So, my support is to contribute to - if only a little - a counterbalance to the dominant billionnaire owned media promoting their interests over the majority of society.

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Duanedoberman@reddit

I subscribed for a while but then they changed its website/app so I was no longer able to prioritise its news feed to what I was intrested in so I cancelled the subscription. I want to read what interests me, not what they want me to read. They do have some good journalists and writers.

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WholeAccording8364@reddit

That is the problem with people today. They don't want breadth they want articles that support their prejudices.

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Duanedoberman@reddit

Just want things in a easy format Headlines Home News World News Football Sport. Others. I had to search through environmental stuff to try and find the football. I was **Paying** for this, but couldn't prioritise the feed I wanted without having to trawl through stuff they decided was more important. It was a great app, dead easy to use until they buggered it up.

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cup-of-tea-76@reddit

I have considered it, one of only a few good quality news organisations around but their opinion pieces are often just ridiculous

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redandbluebadness@reddit

I subscribe to the app and get the paper delivered at weekends. It's not perfect but it's the best mainstream paper in the UK

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BLightyear67@reddit

Only the BBC via my licence fee.

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Conscious-Rope7515@reddit

1. To support them. 2. To suppress the begging messages at the bottom of every article.

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MaleandPale2@reddit

Nah, I used to buy it every day for decades. I even wrote for it, here and there. But then the editor made it very apparent that my sort were no longer welcome at the paper. I decided they’d never get another penny out of me. The way they treated Hadley Freeman and Julie Bindell reinforced my ill feeling towards the Graun. May it burn in hellfire.

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FarRequirement8415@reddit

I view the guardian the same way I view the mail. The way the mail views union members, is the way the guardian views anyone with even a right wing slant. "My leg hurts. Which one, left or far right?"

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loperaja@reddit

Thanks for putting into words something that I’ve been trying to explain to others but never been able to summarise as succinctly

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Comfortable-Fall1419@reddit

I really really want to but the fact they employ Adrian Chiles and Owen Dingbat really boils my piss. The quality of their Opinion columns is awful, almost as bad as the RW ones.

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Oohoureli@reddit

Because I want high quality journalism, and I'm happy to pay for what I consume. Otherwise the mainstream press dies, or we consume what some billionaires push at us, or we get spammed for intrusive ads. It's an easy choice.

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L-0-T-H-0-S@reddit

No. I occasionally work for the fuckers, that's why.

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funnystuff79@reddit

I do, because I wanted to support some actual reporting. But now I can't read articles without increasing my subscription or accepting personalised adds, which I think is pretty scummy

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marlonoranges@reddit

The Guardian has a different ownership structure than other newspapers. Its completely owned by a trust set up years ago, which finances it. So any donations are to try and reduce the costs to the trust, and its not under the same commercial pressures as other newspapers to an extent. Would I donate? No as its full of whackadoodle nonsense.

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Kiss_It_Goodbyeee@reddit

I subscribe because I believe in a free press that doesn't bow to the whim of despotic billionaire moguls.

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danpenny1@reddit

Because it is generally high quality, and is one of very few media organisations now that carries out investigative journalism, which I think is needed now more than ever.

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Dragon_M4st3r@reddit

I’ve been a subscriber for a decade! I was reading it every day and for the price at the time I felt like it was a good thing to do given that I liked the Guardian and hoped that it would continue to exist. They’ve increased the cost since then but I still feel that their investigative journalism is important. I believe the experience of the site and app is a bit frustrating if you’re not subscribed

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sirbinlid1@reddit

Yes I have and continue to do so it's not a monthly sub but I donate money every so often it's a paper to like to read online

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