'Only two types of media people pay for: business news and pornography. And the second isn't even true anymore.' https://digiday.com/media/as-a-paywall-alternative-vox-com-asks-for-reader-donations-to-fund-coronavirus-coverage/

Nobody pays for news, save for those whose livelihoods depend on it. Goes back to the first newspapers, which were shipping and business bulletins.

In the 20th-cent., journalists fooled themselves into thinking news was broadly valuable, when really it was a canvas for ads.

So either you abandon the notion of 'objective' news and become pure entertainment and activism, or you milk a prestige brand to charge a markup for brand ads (or you're the NYT and you do both).