News literacy—an important component of information literacy—includes having some sense of how media outlets collect and disseminate the news.
Still, characterizing paid, “behind-the-scenes” access to reporting-and-publishing processes as an opportunity to increase news literacy seems excessively cheery…
This behind-the-scenes access to journalists, their reporting secrets, and their reading habits sounds a lot like what goes on in most journalism classes—journalism professors (many of whom are working journalists) regularly share tips for reporting in the field, how they broke stories, and which news sources to pay attention to. But online, these anecdotes are being offered to consumers rather than aspiring creators of journalism. And while it might be a novel revenue model (successful or not), it’s a tried and true news literacy model.
…especially when those who buy in must think they can afford it…
While the impetus for these new premium offerings is revenue, and they don’t purport to be an educational service, they are indeed fulfilling a desire for news literacy-type information, and they end up being learning opportunities—though exclusively available to those who can pay for them.
…and those premium subscribers are probably news groupies in the first place.
