Maybe a more direct question would be: Do you see any scenario where it is possible to pay writers to regularly write about interesting events or topics?

The reality may be "No, get another job journalists, the world does not value your contribution in any economically meaningful way."

Musicians are familiar with this.

Not necessarily, but newspapers play a useful role in our society so it's definitely worth saving/helping them, but this doesn't apply to all businesses.

I have actually two idea that might help transform from advertising:

- sponsored content (I know, it's still advertising, but better), like more PR articles and in depth interviews of product creators. that can't be easily blocked and has some value.

- transforming the brand focus to journalists instead of the main brand. For example I don't really know any New York Times journalists by name, I know a few from the tech sector, but also few. Medium did this in a way, but that's out of control because anyone can share any bullshit there. The solution should be in between, like people would say instead there's a great New York Times article, "John von Foo updated his page on the Times network". The design would also author focused and brands would act as a quality filter.

What about when you enter a shop, and they ask you to look at some harmless pictures and read some bits of text, in order to give you the goods cheaper, or for free?

I sometimes optimize for bullshit-avoidance over price. So if a shop does that, a different shop that doesn't do that, will probably become preferable. That's if their goods or services meet an important need, mind you. (Examples: it will feed my family, put clothes on my back, enable me to get around, etc.) If it's a frivolous discretionary good with low or arguably-negative value (e.g. "spending time reading internet articles") then "no transaction at all" (i.e. leaving the market without patronizing any vendor) might become preferable.

The last thing aggrandizers of their own words need to be doing is giving me any reason to remember how unnecessary they are to me.

That has indeed happened to me. Sometimes I've felt like complying with the kind request, others I've elected to decline. In the latter cases, the moment they revealed that the option was not in fact optional, I left the shop out of indignation. In the former, the harmless pictures and texts actually proved themselves harmless: if they didn't, if there were a history of harmless pictures that are really harmful, I would never ever accept to look at one again.