When Local Newspapers Fold, Polarization Rises. Here's What You Can Do

When Local Newspapers Fold, Polarization Rises. Here's What You Can Do

Russia's invasion of Ukraine, rising energy costs and our ongoing struggles with the coronavirus pandemic take up a lot of our attention these days. But there's more going on a lot closer to home -- you just might not know it, because your local newspaper is gone.

More than a quarter of hometown newspapers have disappeared in the last century, leaving about 70 million Americans with little or no way to stay informed about their city and county governments, schools or businesses. As the country heads toward the 2022 midterm elections, Americans are increasingly turning to friends and social media to stay informed -- which isn't always trustworthy, as we learned during the 2016 election when around 44% of Americans were exposed to disinformation and misinformation through untrustworthy websites. 

"The state of local news in America is dire," said Tim Franklin, senior associate dean of Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism and head of the Medill Local News Initiative.

Local journalism isn't just a nice idea. Community newspapers report some of the most important stories in our country. That includes the Boston Globe's 2002 series exposing the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston's sex abuse of minors, Sara Ganim and The Patriot-News' coverage revealing Penn State sex abuse scandal involving Jerry Sandusky and the Charleston Gazette-Mail's 2017 expose on opioids flooding into West Virginia. 

This is part of Citizen Now, a package that aims to empower readers with information about our changing world. 

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But for every Pulitzer Prize-winning local journalism story, there are countless more that have  served as chroniclers of their communities and watchdogs of the people in power. And when they aren't there, research from the Brookings Institute found there's generally more government waste and fraud. 

"When you have less local news, there's various effects, some of which you'd find predictable: lower voting turnout, more corruption, more waste," said Steven Walden, president and co-founder of Report For America, a nonprofit that funds young reporters to work in understaffed newsrooms throughout the US. "There's also evidence that you have more polarization and misinformation."

The journalism industry has been struggling to adapt. Advertising, once a vital part of the newspaper world, has shifted to online. Meanwhile, profit-hungry newspaper owners have chosen to lay off staff and reduce the quality of their products.

Nonprofit organizations have stepped up to support newsrooms in several ways, but ultimately, they live or die by their communities. Many local papers and radio stations depend on individual donations to fund reporting that would never be done by larger publications, covering civic meetings and investigating local issues that lead to exposés which fix injustices. Even simply signing up for and reading local news draws people closer to issues that affect them -- and reinforces what publications do.

"Most of these stories weren't big but they mattered immensely to the residents in a community larger outlets didn't regularly cover," said Greg Yee, now a reporter at the Los Angeles Times, speaking about his year writing for the Farmington Daily Times in Farmington, New Mexico. (Full disclosure: Yee is a former colleague of this article's author.) Stories that stick out from that time include a mobile home park cut off from natural gas in winter and a new gas station opening in a Navajo Nation community, the only fuel access in 30 miles, that significantly improved locals' quality of life. 

"A good local news organization is a problem solver: it identifies problems and helps a community come together to solve it," said Penelope Abernathy, visiting professor at Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism, who heads a site dedicated to mapping news deserts, areas with one or zero local papers. "And a good news organization shows you how you are related to people you may not know you're related to in another part of the county, region or state."

The Washington Post / Getty Images

Long, withering decline

Journalism jobs have been shrinking for decades, driven by declining newspaper circulation and the rise in digital advertising. The news industry's advertising and subscription businesses have roughly halved over the past decade. Much of that money's shifted to Google, Facebook and Amazon, which together now hold 64% of the US online advertising market.

For newspapers, that shift in spending is catastrophic. In the decade after the great recession in 2009, the Pew Research Center found newspaper newsroom employment in the US had dropped by more than half, to about 35,000 workers. 

Ironically, the news industry has more readers than ever before – upwards of 10 times as many, according to Danielle Coffey, vice president and general council of the News Media Alliance. 

"We don't have a broken product. It's being consumed at exponential rates," she said. "The source of the problem is the revenue problem."

It wasn't always this way. 

The founding fathers believed so strongly in newspapers as a public good that they set up government subsidies for postal rates, reducing the cost of distributing the news – which at the time, was delivered on horseback.

In the 1960s and '70s, though, publicly traded paper owners began fixating on profits. To impress shareholders, news organizations conglomerated into big chains that gobbled up local papers into regional networks, said Amanda Lotz, professor of the Digital Media Research Centre at Queensland University.

"The financialization pressure really moves [newspapers] away from the balance between a commercial and public service enterprise of providing news to a community," Lotz said. 

Rounds of acquisitions resulted in the gutting of editorial budgets and staff. With fewer reporters, newspapers started relying on national stories published by wire services, a trend that created "ghost papers" that had little or no local content. Meanwhile, the internet became an easy substitution for things online that had until then been exclusive to the paper, like weather, sports scores, classifieds and even news.

Venture capitalists and other financial firms began buying up newspapers in the 1980s but rapidly accelerated in the last two decades, growing to own over 23% of US newsrooms today while wringing out profits with more layoffs.

"Those losses put more strain on already stretched newsrooms and the publications ended up churning through staff," said Yee, who worked for four years at a pair of newspapers owned by hedge fund Alden Global Capital. "All of that translates into worse, inconsistent coverage of the communities they're trying to serve."

As a result, from 2004 until the start of the pandemic in 2020, the US lost a quarter (around 2100) of its newspapers, according to a report from the University of North Carolina's Hussman School of Journalism and Media. By the end of last year, another hundred were gone, Poynter reported, expanding news deserts that are mostly located in financially-impacted rural areas in the country's interior.

Some papers have tried to rely more heavily on subscriptions, while transitioning to mainly digital publishing. Some success stories include the Chattanooga Times Free Press, which has been operating since 1869. Last September, it switched to a daily digital edition and a single print edition on Sunday from a daily print edition. The publication spent $6.1 million to give all its monthly subscribers iPads and train them one-on-one how to use them to access their daily paper, and it's retained subscribers through the transition. 

"There are some real success stories in this transition. If you can lower your paper costs and your distribution costs and if you can attract enough digital subscribers, you can support a local newsroom on that. But many local news organizations are still getting a significant chunk of their revenue from print advertising," Medill's Franklin said.

Bloomberg / Getty News

Legislative fix, maybe

One way the news industry could regain revenue and profit is to seek compensation from big tech platforms. After all, advocates say, Facebook, Google, Twitter make money selling ads next to links, videos and photos published and shared freely to their networks. 

Legislators in Australia were the first to pass a law in February 2021 requiring Google and Facebook to negotiate with publishers for compensation to use their work, while France followed with its own legislation shortly thereafter. The latter locked horns with Google before finally securing legal assurance that the search giant would pay local media outlets when they appear in search results. Critics like the Electronic Frontier Foundation lament that the Australian and French laws ensured deals for big media publishers at the expense of smaller ones, but that hasn't stopped  Canada and the UK from gearing up to pass their own versions. 

A version of that idea in the US, called the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act, was proposed in March, 2021 by Senators Amy Klobuchar, Rand Paul, Cory Booker, and Lindsey Graham -- a rare bipartisan effort. The bill would allow news organizations to collectively bargain with tech companies for compensation, but hasn't moved out of committee yet.

Another idea to fund journalism Is the Local Journalism Sustainability Act introduced a year ago in the House by Representatives Ann Kirkpatrick and Dan Newhouse. That bill, if it were to become law, would give newsrooms around $50,000 annually in tax breaks to hire reporters. Small businesses, meanwhile, would receive $5,000 for the first year to advertise in local papers, and Americans would get a $250 stipend to pay for news subscriptions. It's unlikely to pass, though, in part because of partisan bickering over other spending plans on Capitol Hill.

"We need to make sure these publications can sustain themselves through this crisis and beyond, and I believe the credits in this bill make significant progress in providing a pathway to that sustainability," Rep. Kirkpatrick said when announcing the bill. 

Nonprofit newsrooms 

Some news organizations are finding funding beyond ads and subscriptions. Nonprofit foundations and philanthropic organizations are funneling grants and other aid money to newsrooms, including a new wave of nonprofit publications, like ProPublica, which run mostly on foundation and individual donations.

The American Journalism Project is a self-described venture philanthropy firm that to date has raised $90 million to back 32 local nonprofit newsrooms. Founded in 2019, it's also helped launch four more, taking the startup incubation model and applying it to digital newsrooms.

The organization focuses on both funding newsrooms and guiding them toward self-sustainability by diversifying their revenue streams, said Sarabeth Berman, CEO of the American Journalism Project. Newsrooms they've helped grow by around 67% in their first year and are projected to double their revenue in three years. 

"Will local news only be nonprofit? No. Is nonprofit news vital for the future of an informed citizenry? We think so," Berman said.

Report For America, founded in 2017, describes itself as a service organization, which helps pair young reporters fresh out of college with legacy newsrooms. The organization financially supports the reporter by paying half their salary (up to $25,000) the first year, then a third (up to $20,000) the following year. After that, it's up to the publication to decide whether to hire them permanently. 

"If you're not in New York or Boston or Washington, some of these news organizations have trouble getting people to go out to smaller towns," said Report For America's Waldman. "We have a very significant recruiting operation and are able to create a sort of self-selected group of people who are really passionate about local."

Report For America has grown its graduating class to 130 reporters this year, up from its first class of 13 in 2018 -- to date, over 560 reporters have gone through the program and partnered with local newsrooms. They include Laura Roche of the Charlotte News & Observer writing about the fraught debate over museums returning the unethically sourced remains of Black people, Sierra Clark of the Traverse City Record-Eagle writing about Melissa Isaac and many others in her Anishinaabek Neighbors series, and Brandon Drenon of the Indianapolis Star writing about the NAACP and others criticizing Indiana schools for failing Black students.

Report for America also connects newsrooms with donors in their area in an effort to get the community more involved in funding its local news again.

"Our goal is to actually help change the local business models in a way that they can sustain that," Waldman said.

The nonprofit Knight Foundation pledged to give $300 million to news organizations in 2019, some of which will go to both the American Journalism Project and Report For America, among other nonprofits that in turn support local newsrooms -- efforts that can be seen city by city on this interactive map. The flow of financial support is important for local newsrooms that operate on nonprofit and for-profit models, which are both valuable to their communities, said Jim Brady, vice president of the Knight Foundation's journalism program.

"Nonprofits tend to be more investigative or enterprise in nature, and the for-profits tend to provide more information on how consumers can live their daily lives. So we think both must be part of the answer to how local news can thrive," Brady said. 

An infographic from the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media's project website, The Expanding News Desert, headed by Penelope Abernathy.

UNC Hussman

What to do if you don't have local journalism

News experts have advice for what to do if you live in a news desert, with little or no coverage. First on the list: Stop thinking that social media posts are an informative replacement for reporting. Social media can help people know what's going on, but it's rife with bias and misinformation. 

"There's a proliferation of misinformation and disinformation that goes unchecked because there's no local journalist checking on the facts. [Social media is] a place where unvetted gossip can get spread," Franklin said.

People need to learn to spot misinformation that's spread on social media by publications that look like they're trustworthy but aren't. Both the World Health Organization and the Poynter Institute have their own free online courses to learn how to fact-check posts yourself -- not just to spot fake news, but also to understand the agenda behind why they're spreading in the first place.

In the voids left by local papers, citizen journalists and bloggers have stepped up to provide their communities with informative coverage, but they lack the oversight and vetting a newsroom provides. For lack of better options, a citizen reporter could start a site on Substack and write about local events, Franklin suggested. 

The best thing to do is to reach out to regional papers the next town over and request coverage. You can find your nearest local or regional paper on Newspapers.com or  NewspaperMap.com. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting has a station finder site too, and if you're a fan of National Public Radio, you can sign up to become a member of your local station in order to help support it. It isn't a perfect solution for an existing newsroom to stretch to cover another area, but is far better than starting a new local publication from scratch. 

But if your community decides to launch a new publication, organizing it as a nonprofit newsroom is a successful way to go. They rely on donations -- foundation support and individual giving account for a combined 83% of nonprofit revenue, according to the Institute of Nonprofit Newsrooms' 2021 Index. And that model is working: 83 of the over 400 nonprofit newsrooms affiliated with INN are less than five years old.

Then there's nonprofit newsroom Berkeleyside, which hosted the so-called first 'direct public offering' where it solicited a combined $1 million in funding from 355 of its readers (an average of $2,816 per person) in 2018 to get started. These are technically securities, but sold directly to its readers, and the publication continues to publish today. It's one of many ways newsrooms are innovating new ownership structures to stay solvent.

"We need to get more support from communities, from local community foundations, from national media foundations and from high net-worth individuals to help make local news sustainable in all areas of the country," Brady said.

Correction, June 28: The original version of this story incorrectly stated how many reporters were in Report For America's first graduating class. Its first graduating class of reporters was in 2018 and had 13 members.

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• Articles On Political Polarization
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• Political Polarization Over Time
• Where Do Old Newspapers Go
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• Obituary Search Local Newspapers
• When Local News Comes On Two Words

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How to spy on your lover, the smartphone way

How to spy on your lover, the smartphone way

Perfect. Screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET

Trust is like love.

You want to believe in it, but then your rational side kicks in and dents your faith.

Here at the Ministry of Failed Relationships, we understand this. There is nothing worse than committing yourself to someone who poses as your soulmate, only to discover that their soul has drunkenly mated with a passing half-sized halfwit.

One company has -- perhaps inadvertently -- stumbled upon a notion that might ease your worried brow. Or confirm your dearest fear. For it is now offering phones that have built-in spyware.

A sample of my chat with Karen, whom I trust completely. Screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET

mSpy created its software with a mind to, say, help parents track their unruly teens. Now, however, with the release of preloaded phones such as the HTC One, Nexus 5, Samsung Galaxy S4 and iPhone 5S, you can merely buy your lover a gift and watch it keep on giving.

So there. Screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET

Mind you, mSpy's founder, Andrei Shimanovich, told Forbes it's not actually his business how people will end up using this nifty software.

Or think of it this way: spy software doesn't spy on people, but rather people spy on other people.

Indeed, though the concept of spying has enjoyed some nuanced developments over the last few months, I was reasonably sure that spying on my lover would be illegal.

So for starters I thought I'd IM with an mSpy rep to see how easy this whole thing was. I posed as a troubled lover, and in return got what seemed to be rather canned answers.

Me: Can I really spy on my lover with this? I think she may be cheating on me.

Karen, the sales manager: You can do that once you install mSpy on her phone.

Me: Is it easy to install?

Karen: It is very easy and fast to install mSpy on the target phone.

Me: But how can I do it without her knowing?

Karen: We can walk you through installation after purchase.

I then told Karen which type of phone I'd like to track. An iPhone 5. Yes, I imagine my perfect, imaginary lover has an iPhone 5.

Karen's reply:

Dear Customer, please be advised that an iPhone must be jailbroken before the installation, but the process is very fast and easy - it takes only few minutes to jailbreak an iPhone. You can check on how to jailbreak an iPhone on http://iclarified.com/jailbreak and http://iclarified.com/jailbreak for iOS 7 +. Kindly be advised that we're the only company who assists with jailbreak. Once an iPhone is jailbroken Cydia icon will appear on the Springboard. But you can hide it after you install the app, so there will be no traces left.

I confess that there was a certain side of me that felt excited, although if I was to spy on my imaginary lover there would surely soon be no traces of the relationship left.

Moreover, the legalities were still preying on my conscience. When I asked "But how can I do it without her knowing?" I fear that my IM buddy heard only "how can I do it" and provided merely a practical response, missing the "without her knowing" portion of the question and its deeper foray into the ethics of the situation. Or maybe that was something for later in the discussion, when we got down to brass tacks.

Still curious, I wandered over to the mSpy legal agreement. It reads, in part:

It is a considered federal and/or state violation of the law in most cases to install surveillance software onto a mobile phone or other device for which you do not have proper authorization, and in most cases you are required to notify users of the device that they are being monitored. Failure to do so may result in a violation of federal or state laws, if you install this software onto a device you do not own or if you do not have proper consent to monitor the user of the device.

After these words of warning, in large blue type is, "We absolutely do not endorse the use of our software for illegal purposes."

But I always thought that all was legal in love and war.

Still, was mSpy just ever so slightly encouraging me to spy on my lover?

I've had lovers sneak into my emails and probe my phone. When I discovered them, their reply was always: "What? You thought I wouldn't? Do I look stupid?" Or expressions to that effect.

So perhaps all this spying is, indeed, quite normal. But it won't have mSpy's official seal of approval.

An mSpy spokeswoman told me:

mSpy does advocate notifying users of the device that they are being monitored. During the installation stage (which had yet to be approached), users need to tick off a few boxes confirming that they have informed the monitored party and got his/her consent. As well, customer services representatives are required to share with you this information as you navigate the process. mSpy's disclaimer clearly state that we do not approve of the illegal use of our software and in the case when the legal breach has been identified we will cooperate with relevant authorities, if required.

I leave all this, therefore, to your conscience, just as I leave national security to the consciences of those who direct it.

Most people will admit that they'd dearly wished they had evidence to back up their suspicions, when they thought their lovers were less than faithful.

But those suspicions in themselves surely described the truth of the relationship.

The difficulty, of course, is waiting for that truth to emerge. Some wait for days, months or even years to discover that what they'd feared was true. Or, more painfully, to discover that the truth was even worse than they'd feared.

Spying can never save a relationship. All it can save is time.

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Curious About Cryptocurrency? 4 Ways to Start Investing Without Losing Your Shirt

Curious About Cryptocurrency? 4 Ways to Start Investing Without Losing Your Shirt

This story is part of So Money (subscribe here), an online community dedicated to financial empowerment and advice, led by CNET Editor at Large and So Money podcast host Farnoosh Torabi.

If I had a dollar for every email with the words "bitcoin" or "NFT" sent to me over the last few years, I'd be richer than some of the cryptocurrency millionaires making headlines.

OK, that may be an exaggeration. But I will say that in this sector it's exceedingly difficult to separate the fanfare from the fundamentals. As "experts" online tout crypto as the "investment of a lifetime," new data shows that a majority of young millionaires hold the bulk of their wealth in it. What's next? Kim Kardashian promoting an obscure cryptocurrency? Oh, wait...

Then there's the cryptocurrency market's recent steep sell-off, which points to its ongoing volatility and uncertainty about the future.

Through my efforts to learn more, I've found that investing experts and financial and tech journalists tend to agree that crypto has become part of our lives and is not going away. At the same time, there's a ton of investor misguidance. Too many people are making financial moves off of pure adrenaline and speculation. 

"Investing should be boring," says Georgia Lee Hussey, founder of Modernist Financial in Portland, Oregon. "If you're super duper excited about your portfolio, you're doing it wrong. Full stop." 

Spencer Jakab, a longtime Wall Street reporter and author of the new book The Revolution That Wasn't,isn't convinced we have to participate at all. "There's no rhyme or reason to it ... I'm not a fan," he says.

But we can't help but be curious. Many of you have told me you want to understand how to start trying out this market in a clearheaded, substantive way. Are there ways to test the crypto waters that are measured, emotionally intelligent and rooted in a strategy? I have some ideas below.

1. Explore career opportunities in the crypto market

One way to "invest" in the cryptocurrency market is by working for a crypto company. And now, there are more choices than ever. Crypto-related job opportunities surged 395% in the US between 2020 and 2021, according to LinkedIn. That's about four times more than job listings in the broader tech industry.

After spending most of her career working for conventional financial institutions like TIAA and BlackRock, corporate communications executive Lauren Post was tapped to join Bakkt, an Atlanta-based digital asset platform. Bakkt, which went public last fall, works with noncrypto companies that want to offer their clients cryptocurrency experiences. This includes working with credit card companies that offer cardholders crypto rewards, as well as teaming up with banks to help them integrate crypto trading with their platforms. 

"I was both intrigued and slightly apprehensive because I didn't know much about crypto," said Post in an email. "But, after having spent my career at traditional financial services companies, I realized that learning about crypto couldn't be much different from learning about target date funds, fixed income, credit default swaps or any other corner of finance. I also realized that the skills I have unpacking complex topics for general audiences can be applied to any industry and are timely for the crypto space right now."

2. Consider stablecoins

Not into pegging your cryptocurrency's success to a rally sparked by an Elon Musk tweet?

A new cryptocurrency genre called stablecoins bloomed in 2021, and unlike its peers, it promises less volatility and a more direct connection to traditional forms of value. Stablecoins are like "cryptocurrency with a twist," according to CNET's Julian Dossett. He explains: "Instead of being 'mined' by an open, distributed network of computers performing a combination of math and record-keeping, a stablecoin derives its price from the value of another asset. In short, a stablecoin is pegged to some other underlying asset." Many stablecoins are fixed to the US dollar. 

Think of a stablecoin as you would chips at a poker table, says Dossett. Instead of buying bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency directly with fiat money like the US dollar, you pay cash to buy stablecoins first -- they're available on most crypto exchanges including Coinbase -- and can then trade stablecoins for other forms of cryptocurrency.  

3. Engage with blockchain

A blockchain is a digital ledger that facilitates and records bitcoin transactions, but this technology can do more than power bitcoin. More broadly, due to its decentralization and cryptography, a blockchain can create much-needed efficiency and security to a number of markets from insurance to real estate, banking and legal. 

If you're interested in learning about the crypto market, consider looking into blockchain. It can be time well spent for someone seeking to enhance their business or examining how to leverage the technology where they work.

As an investor, I'm bullish on the concept of blockchain. To that end, I've chosen to contribute a tiny portion of my retirement savings in a fund called BLOK, which comprises established companies such as Square, Paypal and Nvidia that are investing in blockchain technology. 

4. Still want to buy crypto? Top off at 5% and diversify

Invest in cryptocurrency if you'd like to, but just because this is a new asset class doesn't mean abandoning tried-and-true methods of portfolio management. For starters, don't bet the farm. Hussey and many financial planners recommend limiting our holdings of so-called alternative and relatively high-risk assets like cryptocurrency, real estate and start-ups to no more than 5% of our total portfolio. "It is an asset class in its infancy," says Hussey. "We don't really understand the market because it's not built to be understandable." 

Finally, invest in a bunch of currencies. No matter how confident you may be in a particular digital coin, remember that diversification helps to mitigate losses over time. (You don't want to be like some of the early investors during the dawn of the internet who went all in on pets.com.)

"If you're really confident about some bet, if you have some reason to believe you've got an edge, you still don't bet all your money because there's no sure thing," says Jakab. "To invest exclusively in a single category is something not even the best gamblers do."

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Talkspace Online Therapy Review: Benefits, Cost and Who Should Consider It

Talkspace Online Therapy Review: Benefits, Cost and Who Should Consider It

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, demand for treatment of anxiety and depression has increased exponentially. In a survey conducted by the American Psychological Association, 96% of psychologists polled reported that they were treating patients remotely. The numbers broke down to 64% treating all patients remotely and 32% using a hybrid treatment plan, treating some patients in person and others remotely. 

Online therapy is a great way to take care of your mental health if time, distance or life in general make it difficult to see a therapist in person. Talkspace is an online therapy platform that matches you with a licensed counselor in your state. You can schedule your sessions and meet with your therapist from the comfort of your home.

For this review I considered a number of factors including the services Talkspace offers, its special features, benefits, pricing and therapist qualifications. 

What is Talkspace?

Oren and Roni Frank co-founded Talkspace in 2012. The platform's goal is to provide access to mental health care to those who otherwise do not have access to quality mental health services. 

Through Talkspace, you can connect with therapists with backgrounds and expertise that align best with your needs. These mental health care professionals offer virtual psychology and psychiatry support to individuals, couples and teens through its website and app.  

The platform also offers services for a wide range of mental health needs like anxiety, depression, relationships, trauma, substance abuse, parenting, eating disorders, chronic illness and hardships that the LGBTQ community often faces. 

What makes Talkspace shine is that licensed professionals can prescribe medications through its psychiatric services. A service that its counterparts, such as BetterHelp, have yet to offer. 

Read more: Tips to Find the Right Therapist For You

Five/Getty

How does Talkspace work?

Talkspace's sign-up process is straightforward. You can sign up through its website or app. Here's what subscribing to Talkspace looks like:

1. Answer the assessment: When you click the button to get started, you'll be prompted to answer a few questions about the type of therapy you are looking for, your demographics, lifestyle, physical health and preferences. You'll also create your user account.

2. Choose your plan: Next, you can select which plan you'd like to buy. You can choose from the Messaging therapy plan, Live Plan or the Live plus messaging Plan.

3. Get matched: At this stage, Talkspace will suggest three therapists with experience that match your needs. Here, you can choose which one you'd like to work with. You can expect to get matched within 48 hours of signing up.

4. Start therapy: Once you choose your preferred therapist, they will contact you. Depending on the plan you select, you can schedule weekly or monthly live sessions with your counselor.

Westend6/Getty

How much does Talkspace cost?

We mentioned that there are three plans available through Talkspace; let's compare pricing for each and what they offer.

Messaging therapy: This plan includes unlimited messaging therapy. You can send text, audio and video messages to your therapist any day, any time. It guarantees daily responses five days a week. You'll pay $69 a week for this plan.

Live therapy: This plan includes four 45-minute live sessions a month. The price for this plan is $99 a week.

Live plus messaging therapy: Get the best of both worlds with live and messaging therapy. It offers unlimited text, audio and video messaging plus four 45-minute live sessions a month. This plan will set you back $129 a week.

You can choose to pay any of these plans monthly, every three months (will save you 10%) or every six months (will save you 20%).

Read more: Best Online Therapy Services 

Does Talkspace take insurance?

In the words of Michael Phelps, "I have really good news for 40 million Americans". In 2020, Talkspace expanded accessible mental health care coverage for millions of Americans via insurance coverage. Major insurance companies like Cigna, Optum, Premera Blue Cross Blue Shield and Humana cover mental health services on Talkspace.

To determine if your insurance policy covers Talkspace, you can check your insurance coverage eligibility through your insurer or on Talkspace's website. 

Does Talkspace offer financial aid?

At the time of writing, I couldn't find any information about financial aid on Talkspace. However, if you have insurance, you might have coverage and may only need to pay a deductible or copay. 

I also found an offer code in the Talkspace app for $100 off your first month with the code SPACE.

Talkspace communication methods

Once you're matched with your therapist, you'll have access to a private room where you can contact them. You can access this room via Talkspace's website or on the app. You can also select your preferred method of communication. 

Video messaging

You can communicate with your counselor through video messages, but it's important to note live video sessions are only available on the Premium and Ultimate plans. Depending on your plan, you can schedule a weekly or monthly live video session with your therapist. If you choose the Plus plan, you can still send video messages to your therapist; it just won't be in real-time.

Voice Message

Much like sending a voice message to a friend through WhatsApp, you can send audio messages to your therapist at any time of day, seven days a week. Even though you can contact your therapist at any time, that doesn't mean they'll respond immediately or every day. You can expect therapists to reply five days a week.

Westend61/Getty

Text message

If you are most comfortable reaching out via text, this is the best option for you. Just enter the chat room and reach out to your therapist the same way you would reach out to a friend. You can send unlimited text messages at any time of day.

Talkspace treatment methods

When it comes to therapy, there are many approaches you can take. The best one for you will depend on your needs and goals. You can talk to your counselor to see which options are available. 

The most common types of treatments found on Talkspace include:

• Cognitive-behavioral therapy
• Emotion-focused therapy 
• Dialectical behavioral therapy 
  
• Talk therapy
  
• Somatic therapy
  
• Humanistic therapy
  
• Mentalization therapy
  
• Exposure therapy
  
• Psychodynamic therapy
  
• Grief counseling
  

Atstock Production/Getty

Talkspace features

Besides unlimited texting and video sessions with your therapist, Talkspace offers some cool features to help you stay on track with your mental health journey.

Progress tracker: Talkspace offers a great way to visualize your progress through its therapy progress tracker. As you start to foster a relationship with your counselor, you can click on "client journey" in the app to view your timeline. You can set goals with your therapist and see how well you are doing.

Mental health tools and resources: If you want to put what you've learned to practice, check out Talkspace's self-help exercises. It offers many resources to help you navigate different situations including stress, anxiety and negative thought patterns. You can also find other useful tools such as breathing exercises for when you're feeling stressed. Most of the exercises are from 1 to 15 minutes long, making them convenient for when you're short on time.

These resources are available to you at any time. You can find them on your dashboard under Therapy Tools. 

Live chat: For those who have plans that include live chat, you can schedule them in advance through your calendar. The live feature allows you to chat in real-time with your therapist through your preferred communication method: text, audio or video. These live sessions have a duration of 30 minutes.

Benefits of Talkspace

Besides providing access to mental health professionals, some other things make Talkspace stand out:

• Access to psychiatric care
  
• If working with a psychiatrist, they can prescribe and manage medication
  
• A vast network of licensed therapists
  
• Many large health insurers cover services offered on Talkspace
  
• Ability to message your therapist at any time
  
• The flexibility of choosing weekly or monthly live sessions
  
• Talkspace will match you with three therapists, and you can choose which one you'd like to work with
  
• If you're unhappy with your therapist, you can change them at any time at no extra cost
  

Disadvantages of Talkspace

There's a lot to like about Talkspace, but there are a few things that you should consider before deciding if it's the right fit for you:

• Medicare and Medicaid don't cover the cost of therapy on Talkspace
  
• No therapy options for children ages 12 and younger
  
• Negative customer reviews about billing and customer service
  
• Similar to other online therapy platforms, therapists on Talkspace can't diagnose mental health disorders
  

Talkspace therapist qualifications

Talkspace therapists are highly skilled and qualified. According to the website, to become a member of the clinical network, all mental health professionals must possess an LCSW, LMFT, LPCC or Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology and must be licensed in the state they practice.

Talkspace verifies all therapists' credentials and runs a background check upon hire. 

Talkspace's privacy policy

When you sign up with Talkspace, you share a lot of personal data, including credit card information, legal name and medical records. You might be wondering, is my information safe?

According to the website, Talkspace may collect, retain, analyze and use any personal information you provide. The company provides a lot of insight into how your information may be used. Although this might sound scary, it's not uncommon for platforms to store and use your data for marketing purposes and to tailor your services.

What's most important is that the information shared with your therapist is safe. When you message your therapist, all of the information is encrypted -- meaning that your messages are only readable to you and your therapist.

To ensure that your medical information remains private, Talkspace is compliant with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. 

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Talkspace customer reviews

On paper, Talkspace has a lot to offer -- convenient scheduling, online resources and tools and access to qualified therapists. But when it comes to customer reviews, the company falls short in terms of good customer experience. Talkspace holds a 1.3 out of 5 star review on Trustpilot, an independent review platform where consumers can review services and products. 

Most clients have complaints about unauthorized charges, billing issues, subpar customer services and difficulty navigating the app. Other reviewers note that they've had good experiences with therapists, but not with Talkspace as a company.

Is Talkspace right for you?

If you're looking to start taking care of your mental health or need help facing difficult life changes, Talkspace may be a good online therapy option. It offers flexible scheduling and access to a diverse network of licensed therapists. It's also one of the few online therapy platforms that offer psychiatric services and medication prescriptions. 

However, good experiences with Talkspace may be a hit or miss. It does not boast great reviews amongst its customers. Since the platform is subscription-based, you can try it out to see if you are matched with a therapist that aligns with your needs, and if you don't like them, you can either request a change or cancel your membership.

If you have thoughts about hurting yourself, Talkspace is not the appropriate channel. If you have an emergency or are in a life-threatening situation, please contact your local police, the nearest emergency room or call the National Suicide Prevention Lifetime at 1-800-273-8255.

The information contained in this article is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as health or medical advice. Always consult a physician or other qualified health provider regarding any questions you may have about a medical condition or health objectives.

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This guy sued a spammer and got 1/2000 szcsm rendelet this guy sued a spammer and got 1540 this guy sued a spammer and got a davida this guy sued a spammer app this guy sued at fault this guy sued america this guy sued after chapter this guy sued for selling

This Guy Sued a Spammer and Got $1,200 Without a Lawyer. You Can Fight Unwanted Calls and Texts, Too

This Guy Sued a Spammer and Got $1,200 Without a Lawyer. You Can Fight Unwanted Calls and Texts, Too

David Weekly was fed up with spam calls. So he did something about it.

Telemarketing calls and texts were flooding his inbox every day, making it difficult to discern between genuine calls and telemarketing ads. After a text message hit his phone in June, he decided enough was enough. He sued the spammer, and it paid off: He ended up with a $1,200 check.

"Like every other human being on the planet with a cellphone, I get a lot of spam phone calls and text messages -- I find it kind of annoying," Weekly, a technology executive and California resident, told CNET.

"I've occasionally gone after spammers by reporting them to the shortlink services they use or the web or DNS host of the spamming domain," Weekly said. But this is the first time he sued a spammer in small claims court. And it was the first time he received a check from a spammer.

Though representing yourself in court isn't the easiest process, Weekly's story shows people aren't helpless. In fact, Weekly says his experience -- which went viral on Twitter after he shared it -- has inspired many others to take action against spammers, now knowing that the law gives you the right to sue them.

How one man sued a spam caller and won

Weekly received a text message from a company in June trying to sell him workers' compensation insurance. The company didn't conceal its identity. The text gave the name of the company, a website and an email address for the person running the business. 

A quick search online confirmed the company operated out of California. Though Weekly isn't a lawyer, he knew about the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and saw this as a clear violation of the law.

The TCPA is a federal law that, among other things, prohibits unsolicited calls made to cellphones using an automatic telephone dialing system or an artificial or prerecorded voice (aka a robocall). Text messages are considered calls under the TCPA, according to Anne Mitchell, attorney and CEO of the Institute for Spam and Internet Public Policy. 

If a business violates the TCPA, it's obligated to pay $500 per violation or $1,500 each time it "willfully and knowingly" violates this law. If you're on the National Do Not Call Registry, the right to sue includes live telemarketing calls, which refer to spam phone calls involving a live person and not an automated system, according to Margot Saunders, general counsel at the National Consumer Law Center. 

Weekly researched the law and sent the company a demand letter stating how much they owed him and why. (Sending a demand letter prior to suing in small claims court is a requirement in California.) After 10 days passed without a reply, Weekly sued. 

"It was only about a day or two after I served them with the suit that I got a phone call and a text message saying, 'Hi, there. Looks like you've sued me. Can we talk?'" Weekly said. "Those weren't the exact words, but that was sort of the gist. He was apologetic about having done it, and he recognized that he had done the wrong thing. He asked if I could take it down a notch, and I said, 'Well, how about just a $1,200 check and we can call this thing done?'

"He agreed, and a week later, that $1,200 check showed up," Weekly said. "That was cool and surreal: I'm holding a check that somebody who spammed me sent as an apology. That's pretty neat."

In all, it took Weekly four hours to complete this entire process, and he didn't contact a lawyer or have to show up to court. He subsequently posted his story on Twitter, explaining how he sued the spammer in the thread.

Spam calls are a big nuisance, sure, but what drove Weekly to take legal action wasn't rooted in any deep animosity toward the spam callers.

"These people aren't out there to spam maliciously," Weekly said. "They spam because they did some economic calculus that says it's economically advantageous for them to do so. If even a small percentage of people who are spammed find ways to push back, you can quickly, dramatically change the calculus around whether spamming makes good economic sense."

Though not all TCPA violations are straightforward -- and it's not always easy to identify a spammer in the first place -- Weekly's story shows people aren't defenseless against spam calls. And suing is only one tool in your arsenal. Here's what you can do about spam calls and messages. 

The TCPA gives folks with the right to sue spammers.

PM Images/Getty Images

What can you do about spam calls and messages?

First, you should understand the difference between a spam call and a scam call.

Scam calls are those that are clearly illegal, designed to steal money from people. Scam calls might include people pretending to be a legitimate business (including Apple and Amazon), attempting to defraud an individual. They also include those you might receive about "your car's extended warranty" or your Social Security benefits. 

Spam calls, on the other hand, are calls that aren't necessarily trying to steal your money or information. These include legitimate telemarketing calls that you haven't consented to. 

Robocalls can be legitimate telemarketing, but they're also a large source of scams in the US. As many as 68 million Americans have reported losing money to phone scams, losing nearly $40 billion collectively within the last year, according to Truecaller's 2022 US Spam and Scam Report. Truecaller, one of the leading platforms for blocking unwanted communication, conducts the yearly review with Harris Poll. 

While you can also sue scam callers under the TCPA, it's much harder to find scammers. Often, they're overseas and use temporary numbers, making them almost impossible to find contact information for. But with legitimate businesses, you've got more of a shot of suing them and successfully collecting the damages you're owed.

You could take spammers to court, though that takes time and effort. If you don't want to go to those lengths and simply want to cut down on the number of unsolicited calls and texts you receive, there are some simpler steps you can take. 

Report it to your carrier

You can report spam calls and messages to your carrier by texting 7726 -- easy to remember, because it spells "SPAM." 

If you received a spam text message, you can forward, or copy and paste, the message to your carrier. (When doing this, take care not to open links that were sent to you.) If it's a call, you can send the caller's number to your carrier. 

Some carriers, like AT&T, may also provide online forms that allow you to file a spam complaint with more detail. Many popular US carriers also have apps that enable additional call-blocking features that aren't already included in your phone subscription. These apps, like T-Mobile's ScamShield, may include a specialized area where you can report individual unwanted communications. Verizon's app is called Call Filter and AT&T's app is called ActiveArmor. 

Sign up for the Do Not Call Registry

Managed by the Federal Trade Commission, the National Do Not Call Registry is a list of phone numbers of individuals who have requested that telemarketers do not contact them. Companies are required to check the Do Not Call Registry before making telemarketing calls, and calling someone on the list without prior consent is prohibited.

You can sign up for the Do Not Call Registry for free in just a couple of minutes. Though it won't stop all telemarketing calls from reaching you, stopping any amount of calls is helpful. Some organizations, such as political organizations, charities and telephone surveyors, may still call you even if you're on the list.

The Registry includes a complaint form where you can report spammers. The FTC's website also includes a form to report fraud.

Read more: The FCC Wants Scammers to Stop Calling You

Implement tips from the FCC

The Federal Communications Commission is the federal agency responsible for implementing and enforcing US communications law and regulations. As such, in recent years, illegal calls have become a top consumer protection priority for the agency. Here's a list of easy tips from the FCC to help reduce unwanted communications, and protect yourself against conventional scam attempts:

• Don't answer calls from blocked, unidentifiable or unknown numbers. Hang up immediately if you answer one of these calls.
• Don't respond to questions from or interact with unwanted communications. Never respond to a question that can be easily answered with "yes."
• Never give out personal information, including your Social Security number, passwords or other identifying information. Use caution if you are being pressured for information immediately.
• If you get an inquiry call from someone who says they represent a company or government agency, such as the IRS, hang up immediately and call the entity from an official source (including your account statement or the entity's website).

Remember: The more you interact with spam or scam callers, the more likely they are to target you further. 

The FCC's website includes a page where you can report spam communications.

Sue the spam caller or messenger 

Suing is certainly an option if a spammer has violated the TCPA, but successfully doing so will require a bit more work -- and it's somewhat complex, based on the lawyers we spoke with.

Since the Do Not Call Registry expands your right to sue to telemarketing calls of any kind (regardless of what dialing system was used or whether it's live or a robocall), enrolling is a good first step before you file suit. If you're on the Do Not Call Registry and receive more than one telemarketing call from the same caller, you have the right to sue, and you can get $500 per call or text, according to Saunders.

Mitchell argues that receiving a telemarketing call to a number that's on the Do Not Call Registry may qualify as a "willful or knowing" violation of the TCPA, since companies are required to check the Registry before making a telemarketing call. A willful and knowing violation would qualify you for $1,500 per violation.

Some states require you to send a demand letter before suing, but even if it isn't required, Mitchell says it's advantageous to send one first. That's because it's often less costly for companies to settle with you -- they can avoid court and attorney's fees -- than it would be to appear in court. Settling can also save you money in court fees and serving the defendant with the complaint. 

"It's such small potatoes for these companies," Mitchell said. "Is it going to be worth the spammer paying the court and legal fees rather than just settling with you? It never is worth it for them. And they know what they're gonna lose."

If the spammer doesn't respond to your demand letter, then you can move forward with suing in your local small claims court as a TCPA violation.

You can settle with TCPA violators before taking them to court.

Prasit photo/Getty Images

Here's what you need to know to sue a spam caller

What is small claims court?

Small claims courts are local (e.g., county, municipal) courts that manage cases with a small amount of damages, typically between $5,000 to $10,000, though some states have much lower caps. This is the easiest place to file a TCPA violation, as long as the amount of damages you're claiming doesn't exceed the court's limit. Small claims court also tends to be a cheaper and faster process. Nolo, which is one of the largest online libraries of DIY legal guides, has information on small claims courts by state. 

How do I create and send a demand letter? 

You may be required to send a demand letter before suing in small claims court, depending on where you live, so you'll want to check in with the requirements of your state. 

For example, California has a self-help guide to writing a demand letter; your state may have one too, or maybe even a template to follow. It's best to follow the instructions and language of your particular court, but Nolo has general guidelines for writing a demand letter.

How do I file a claim?

This is the first step in initiating a lawsuit. For small claims court, the initial form is typically called a "statement of claim," but depending on the court, it may simply be called a "complaint." Many court websites will walk you through the process, though some are more user-friendly than others (California and Massachusetts have particularly good websites). The form and process for filing a claim vary by court, so be sure to research your particular court. An internet search with your state or county and "small claims court" should set you in the right direction. In any case, your claim will need to outline how much and why the defendants owe you.

What is 'serving the defendant'?

Adequately giving the defendant notice that you're suing them is an essential component of any lawsuit. This is called "service of process." States differ on what constitutes adequate service. For example, a majority of states (but not all) allow you to send a defendant the lawsuit through certified mail with a return receipt requested. You'll want to check in with the requirements of your state, but getting a private company to serve the defendant is usually the easiest way to go, though it'll cost you a bit more money than doing it yourself.

The bottom line on unwanted calls and messages

At best, unwanted communications are annoying. At worst, they're a large source of scams in the US that reap billions of dollars from American consumers. But whatever the form and content of these unwanted communications, you aren't powerless against the nuisance.

It may take some time and effort, but there are things you can do to push back, including taking legal action against spam or scam communications. As Weekly said, the more people push back, the more the economic calculus changes for spammers, making it riskier and costlier to spam. 

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