alt Hacker NewsThis is broadcast publishing in a nutshell. Look at the early radio shows, they had names like "Alka-Seltzer Time," "The Fleischmann’s Yeast Hour," "The General Motors Hour" and so on. It was explicitly "we are playing music to get you to tune into our advertisement."
Free newspapers and alt-weeklies are the same. How are they supposed to function if people don't pay for them?
At least there was some connection there - if the experience for "the General Motors Hour" was absolute shit, it would get back to them.
We have so many advertising intermediaries that it's basically impossible for anything to affect anyone, ever.