Valid news sources for ATSNN?

I'm just wondering if a trusted news source that requires a free membership is any less valid of a source?

I ask because I know that several well-known and highly reliable news sources, such as The NY Times, Washington Post, and others require a free membership to view articles. I just had an ATSNN submission's voting suspended due to "invalid source" because it required a free membership. The source quoted was the NY Times. Outside of this, it met the guidelines for ATSNN in every way.

I'd just like a mod opinion on this.

Thank you.

Originally posted by obsidian468
I'm just wondering if a trusted news source that requires a free membership is any less valid of a source?

I ask because I know that several well-known and highly reliable news sources, such as The NY Times, Washington Post, and others require a free membership to view articles. I just had an ATSNN submission's voting suspended due to "invalid source" because it required a free membership. The source quoted was the NY Times. Outside of this, it met the guidelines for ATSNN in every way.

I wouldn't think it would be a problem, at first glance, but I can see where an issue comes into play. You're requiring someone give away more information in order to check your sources. The real problem, I think, is that on NYTimes.com, the articles are no longer free after 2 weeks. Your article becomes essentially invalid after a fortnight. That counts as invalid for me.


However, I STRONGLY urge everyone to sign up for an free account on nytimes.com. The New York Times is arguably one of the best papers in the world, and is the leading news source in America, followed closely by the Washington Post. The Times dictates so much of what is actually reported it is truly amazing.