Would you give your work away for sweet FA? | Simon Carter

Bit of a bargain, you’d have thought? Yes?

Well, not for some members of a supposedly civilised society it appears.

Some have responded with cheery messages saying ‘hope you die’ and ‘hope you’re burned alive in your office’ when offered the chance to pay their pound a month.

If that sounds a tad alarming, then welcome to the world of a regional newspaper journalist in UK2020.

A world where my colleagues have to routinely put up with online trolls and abuse – just because they are being asked to pay £1 a month to read the stories they produce for three months online. And yes, on at least four occasions people have messaged our journalists with a ‘hope you die’ message.

The most recent was last week, because this paper was again asking readers to pay to access our coronavirus-related stories online.

That’s been the case since last summer, when the paywall’s introduction brought forth the ‘hope you burn in your office’ message from one sicko.

Yes, the likes of Twitter and Facebook can be a force for good - certainly during these lockdown times - but the keyboard warriors with their fingers dancing merrily over their laptop or phone keypads peddling their poison underline just what a negative impact it can have.

‘Your reporters lost their main income flipping burgers?’, ‘Let’s hope The News goes out of business’’.

Yep, two more comments posted on our Facebook page last week when this paper’s editor had the temerity to ask readers to pay £1 a month for three months - and providing those months are April, May and June, that works out at 3.27p per day.

All those comments came on the day when some hard-working staff were placed on furlough leave for a minimum of three weeks.

Now hear me out, I’m not seeking your sympathy, not in the slightest - I live in the real world and the economic impact of the Covid-19 crisis is affecting millions. I am not painting a picture of ‘poor us’, I’m just asking the question of how many other workers are being told ‘I hope you die’ when asked for little more than THREE PENCE a day to help them carry on earning a living.

An oft-repeated comment on The News’ Facebook site is this: ‘I can read the same news on the BBC website for free.’ HELLO! What do you think the licence fee is for? They don’t just use it to make EastEnders.

Some other bright spark wrote: ‘The news should be free.’ Really? Since when? Any electricians, painters, roofers etc out there who would happily give all their work away for nothing as well?

Numerous people have said the paywall should be suspended during the pandemic. Do they think supermarkets should be handing out free toilet rolls as well, if you apply the same logic?

I can take criticism, of course I can. I’ve worked in regional newspapers for 32 years, my skin is as thick as a rhino’s. But it really hurts - deeply hurts - some of my younger colleagues to have to read such abuse from people they possibly grew up with. They’re mainly Portsmouth-area people trying to inform the Portsmouth-area population.

#Bekind didn’t last long, did it? But in these days of keyboard warriors with extra lockdown time on their hands and a desire to troll, that was invariably going to be the case...