Yes, I've been quite struck by the tone of plaintive whining in some publications - and there is an element of that, the old 'good journalism costs money' - and yes, it does cost money, and resources, and time, I accept that.
However, what most of these media fail to acknowledge, let alone recognise, is the dismal experience of their readers with online ads before adblockers were developers.
As a result, and as always, this meant that they got both complacent and greedy: Complacent because it worked, and greedy because they wanted even more money, so were prepared to allow and authorise the use of ever more intrusive ads that took up lots of bandwidth and space, slowed loading times, and - frankly - were an eyesore, a distraction, and sometimes even a menace.
In other words, the media over played their hand, and allowed so many intrusive ads that the act of merely trying to read articles on their online sites became something of an endurance test.
They became so difficult to circumvent and so unpleasant (all that ostentatious flashing) and intrusive that I will do almost anything to avoid them. So, the guilt trip stuff they try to pull doesn't really cut it with me.
