Chris​Hubbs​.com

They say if you’re not paying for the product, you are the product. Every time I review my media subscriptions I feel a little bit sheepish about how many I have; on the other hand, when I go to weed them out I feel like I’m getting value out of them and, specifically in the case of the solo writers, that I want to support what they’re doing. So, as of today, here’s all the media sites where I have a paid subscription.

News

• The Cedar Rapids Gazette (print + online). Having an independent local newspaper is a community privilege that needs to be supported.

• Wall Street Journal digital subscription. The opinion sidebar usually makes me want to throw things, but the news reporting is very solid. I signed up for the introductory rate here, and will keep the sub probably as long as I can keep that rate. $4/month feels worth it. $30/month would be ridiculous.

• New York Times digital subscription. I have the family subscription here, mostly because we all like to play the games. But their news reporting is also voluminous and solid.

• The Guardian digital subscription. A nice alternative to the WSJ and NYT, feels like it balances things out some.

Reporting / Opinion

• Talking Points Memo I love the consistent writing that editor Josh Marshall does for this one. Am I really getting the yearly value out of it? I don’t know. But feels like a site worth supporting.

• Defector Sort of half sports writing, half political opinion. Just picked this sub up recently. Not sure I’ll renew. But I enjoy some of the writing, and they do some bigger pieces that I don’t think you’d get from a corporate journalism shop.

Newsletters

• Public Notice This is my most recent subscription. The reporting and opinion here is consistent and well done. This one sticks around.

• Law Dork Can’t say enough good about this one. Chris Geidner is a solo shop, but nearly every day he’s reporting on Federal and Supreme Court proceedings in a way that’s digestible for the average reader. Essential reading these days.

• Men Yell At Me Lyz Lenz is a local acquaintance and an acerbic writer. She probably falls into the “people I know who I want to support” at this point.

• Andrew Osenga Andrew needs a catchy title for his site, I guess. I’ve supported Andrew’s work since his early days as a singer/songwriter. As life has taken him into being a writer and podcast host, I’ve followed right along. He’ll continue to get my support wherever the road takes him.

• The Book of Common Words Aaron Smith is a guy I know online from years back. Us exvangelical theological wanderers gotta stick together.

• Jeffrey Overstreet Jeffrey has been writing about music and movies for a long time. He just moved off Substack and to his own self-branded site… another guy that I’ll support wherever the road goes.

Podcasts

• Accidental Tech Podcast I’ve listened to these guys forever, and I subscribe both because I want to support them and because I love the raw bootleg feed.

• Filmspotting The only podcast I’ve listened to longer than ATP. Love listening to these guys talk about film. Always have more that I’m interested in than I have time to watch, but I’ve learned so much listening over the past 15+ years… well worth it.

• Gravity Commons This subscription is sort of podcast + online community… Matt & Ben hold a special place in my own spiritual journey and I am thankful for them and happy to support their work as I see them shepherding a bunch of people with similar journeys.

More subscriptions?

I’m not even gonna go into the online video streaming stuff here. I’m sure there’s more than I really like to pay for, but every time I do a family survey to see who’s watching what, everybody’s watching stuff on the various services. So for now I’ll live with it.