Off-topic rant

Will you permit me a short off-topic rant?

I'm bewildered by the Deseret News's (hereafter DN) stubbornness and hardheadedness in not allowing Utah readers to purchase a separate subscription to the Church News (hereafter CN).

The president and publisher of DN explains on-line why Utah readers are coerced into purchasing the DN in order to get the CN.

Reading a bit between the lines of Mr. Wall's letter, I have to say it sounds an awful lot like the DN recognizes that it only stays in business because of the patronage of LDS church members. By only offering the CN to DN subscribers in Utah, the DN ensures its future survival. Apparently the DN is such a sub-par publication, that readers will only purchase it if they can't get their CN elsewhere. Mr. Wall doesn't trust us to pick the better Salt Lake paper, because he's afraid he'll lose.

So, those of us who live in Utah are forced to choose between paying for a daily subscription to the Deseret Morning News or not having the opportunity to even purchase an on-line subscription to the Church News. Simply because of where we live.

Do you think this is ethical?

PS: Mr Wall's letter states that you can purchase a DN subscription for $.34 per day. However their website doesn't show a print-delivery option for anything less than $.51 per day. You can get a web-only subscription for $.12 per day, however this (1) doesn't indicate whether a CN subscription is included, and (2) doesn't seem to offer much value, since you can get the entire daily contents of the DN online anyway.