Iowa newspaper website publishes paywall-restricted AJC article about Decatur business
So the AJC published a great story about small businesses increasingly relying on foreign markets to help them grow their companies. The article uses Decatur-based Southern Culture Artisan Foods as its jumping off point and quotes its owner, Erica Barrett.
You can read it on AJC.com, but it’s behind a paywall. Or you can read it on the website of the Iowa-based Telegraph Herald for free.
So, to review: you can buy a subscription to read a local story on a local website, AJC.com, or you can Google the story and read it for free on some website based in Iowa.
I wonder if this irony can teach us anything about the logic of paywalls erected by newspapers that have content distribution agreements with wire services?