Published: August 01, 2011
Op-Ed Contributor
Guest Sues Hilton Over 75-Cent Newspaper
By Robert Paul Reyes
"A guest at the Hilton Garden Inn in Santa Rosa, Calif., filed a class-action lawsuit against the hotel over a 75-cent charge for a newspaper, officials say.
Rodney Harmon, 55, filed the suit in U.S. District Court in San Francisco Wednesday, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. He alleges the hotel chain deceived him and is also hurting the environment." UPI
Like a mint placed on a pillow, a newspaper placed outside a hotel room is presumed to be free. It's an outrage for a hotel to deceive a guest into thinking the staff gave him the newspaper as a courtesy.
This incident brings up the larger issue of the death of the newspaper industry, and the 21st century principle that news should be free.
I would be annoyed if a hotel left a newspaper, free or otherwise, in my room. In the digital age once a newspaper is delivered to your front porch, the news it contains is already hopelessly updated.
I can read almost any newspaper in the world for free online, why should I pay for privilege of reading the news. Everybody who believes in the idea that the news should be free should boycott the New York Times for selling subscriptions to the Internet edition of their newspaper.
The Hilton Garden Inn in Santa Rosa should apologize to Harmon and all of their guests. The hotel should make amends by placing a computer in each room so that the guests can read the news online for free.
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Robert Paul Reyes is a NewsBlaze writer on Politics, Pop Culture and Pointless Pontificating. Contact him by writing to NewsBlaze.
* The views of Opinion writers do not necessarily reflect the views of NewsBlaze
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