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To: New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Miami Herald, Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune and other newspapers

Public Health Info Should Be Free: Remove Paywalls from Coronavirus Articles

Currently, many major national newspapers have their reporting about the novel coronavirus outbreak behind a paywall, preventing nonsubscribers from accessing accurate, current, and important public health information.

Reliable reporting empowers the public to prevent transmission and prepare for potential disruptions to their daily lives. Newspapers should remove the paywall for coronavirus articles so that this information is available to all.

Why is this important?

Preventing transmission of the novel coronavirus is an urgent public health issue. Access to information on this rapidly evolving situation is essential to individual and community safety. Keeping vital information behind a paywall prevents nonsubscribers from accessing important information, and it disproportionately affects people with fewer financial resources.

The Seattle Times recently announced that it would allow unlimited public access to stories about the virus. Other major newspapers should follow their lead for the safety of the public. [1]

To give a sense of the scope of information being held back, Harvard epidemiologist Dr. Eric Feigl-Ding analyzed reporting about coronavirus from major papers between January 1, 2020, and February 20, 2020, and found thousands of coronavirus-related articles behind paywalls at seven large papers [2]:

The New York Times: 1,012
The Washington Post: 981
The Wall Street Journal: 749
Los Angeles Times: 490
The Miami Herald: 463
The Boston Globe: 340
Chicago Tribune: 292

The novel coronavirus has the potential to touch the lives of billions of people. The public must be empowered with reliable and up-to-date information in order to take practical safety measures and prevent transmission of the virus. Sharing accurate information also guards against the spread of unnecessary panic.

Access to these resources is also an issue of equity -- lower income populations that are not able to afford newspaper subscriptions are excluded when paywalls lock them out. With the decline of local newspapers, information increasingly flows from national outlets. [3] Public health and awareness are at stake -- all people have a right to protect themselves, their families, and their livelihood and deserve access to high-quality reporting and insight from scientific experts.

Partner

Updates

2020-03-02 17:27:57 -0500

50 signatures reached

2020-03-02 15:01:22 -0500

25 signatures reached

2020-03-02 14:37:27 -0500

10 signatures reached