People will really go to lengths to spend hundreds of dollars on a frame for a website but still complain about paywalls that cost a few dollars to get through.
It seems disingenuous to claim that the commitment level to get through the paywall on many of the newspaper sites we refer to is just "a few dollars" when there have been widespread and numerous reports (even on this very website) of nightmare-inducing subscription cancellation practices.
But your comment misses the point entirely: An organization's home page is its face. They should at least try to make their face look attractive. Even a newspaper stand shows a nice view of above the fold through the window.
The idea that the homepage is a publication's face is woefully outdated. Traffic flows to stories through social media and SEO, distributed entry points that don't touch the homepage. It's not irrelevant, but this is a disproportionate emphasis to place on it.
