As per title, would love to see a discussion on this. Feel free to chime in on all/some of the below.

1. Do you subscribe to any news sites? If so, with whom do you hold subscriptions?

2. Why did you choose to subscribe?

3. How much do you pay? 

4. Will you keep your subscription(s)?

5. Any other news outlets that you thought about subscribing to but ultimately did not?

6. Any news outlets that are currently free that you definitely won't subscribe to, should a paywall be introduced?

7. What are your feelings around paywalls generally?

My answers:

1. Yes - New York Times, Washington Post and the Guardian.

2. In the case of the American newspapers,  because I am interested in US politics and because I particularly enjoy the quality of their op-eds, book reviews, and classical music reviews, things that southern hemisphere news outlets are particularly weak on IMO. In the case of The Guardian, I think they have the widest coverage, with different editions containing very different contents. I also particularly support their model of trying to co-exist in a world of "free" and also softly encouraging people to subscribe or become supporters, with two very affordable tiers of subscriptions. I have chosen the more expensive one. Generally speaking, I also accept that good journalism does cost money and that not everyone can live in a purely ad-supported model.

3. Approximately $27 NZD a year for Washinton Post (discounted by 80% - they run discounts all the time); $140 per year for NYT (50% off) and $100 for The Guardian.

4. I am seriously considering dropping the NYT subscription because I think it is just poor value and also because I dislike their business practices. The tier that includes access to their Ipad app is about 30% more expensive and their "normal" subscription rates are just insane. Albeit that you pretty much never have to pay it as the moment your one year discount period is up, you can just unsubscribe and then subscribe again using another e-mail address. I even spoke with their customer service and ask if I can be spared the hassle and be given the new rate permanently as a loyal subscriber of 3 years. They said "no". You also constantly get offers of free access after previously subscribing and then discontinuing. 

5. Occasionally, I have been tempted to subscribe to Financial Times and the NBR but I fundamentally object to sites that bury their stuff behind total or near-total paywalls. In the case of FT, I also consider their pricing to be insane.

6. There is no way that I will ever pay for Stuff. If I can get the Herald for about 5 bucks a month for digital access, I probably will subscribe.

7. As per above, sites that bury their stuff behind total paywalls have no chance with me. I refuse to part with money on principle just to read one or a series of articles of interest. Sites that offer nothing in way of trials and largely trade off their reputation (I am looking at you, FT) also bother me. The sites that ultimately will retain my support are ones that provide realistic "normal" pricing, transparent details as to how much things will cost after offers expire (I saw a Wall Street Journal offer that did not disclose their annual subscription rate at all - no thanks) and easy cancellation (the NYT's behaviour in this regard is shameful - if you give them your credit card details, you have to ring their helpline to cancel; I use Paypal and just kill the monthly payment agreement).

Ultimately, I'd like to see softer paywalls and/or more persuasion-based subscription models that the likes of the Guardian are pushing. I also have a pretty firm view that I will pay no more than $200 NZD a year max for any one site and would prefer to pay half that usually.