Wikipedia talk:Newspapers.com

This page is for discussion or questions about access to Newspapers.com as part of The Wikipedia Library. Applications for access are now handled at the centralized Library Card platform. New users, go and apply there! If your access is expired and you want to renew, visit "My Library", click "View my applications" and click the "Request renewal" button next to your previous application.

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"An added feature is that links to clipped articles that begin with https://www.newspapers.com can be archived by archive.org. Links to image pages will not be usefully archived." This does not seem to be working. This is what I just got. Bgsu98 (Talk) 19:16, 26 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I've noticed that as well, for about the last month. Archive.today still works, but they seem to be blocking archive.org. It isn't a positive move for long-term verifiability. Nick Number (talk) 20:54, 26 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

This looks like this is a Cloudfare allowlist setting that Newspapers.com can likely turn on. Does Wikimedia have a corporate contact at Newspapers.com to reach out to here? --Engineerchange (talk) 20:58, 26 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

We'll ask about this! Samwalton9 (WMF) (talk) 08:25, 27 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Newspapers.com looked into this and has informed us now that they can see traffic coming from archive.org user agent string and the requests are completing successfully. Can you check and let me know if this issue persists, please? VSj (WMF) (talk) 09:01, 14 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I was able to archive some Newspapers.com clippings the other day. 😃 Bgsu98 (Talk) 09:04, 14 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the heads up :D Timur9008 (talk) 14:37, 14 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I just tried archiving a clipping and got "The capture failed because Save Page Now does not have access rights https://www.newspapers.com/article/santa-barbara-news-press-directors-wife/169571088/ (HTTP status=403)." Nick Number (talk) 15:54, 14 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Looks like I spoke too soon. I got "Get access to this page with a 7-day free trial" when I tried archiving a clipping

[1]

Everything worked fine yesterday. Timur9008 (talk) 05:49, 15 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

It's working for me now. Nick Number (talk) 23:04, 23 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Hmm, I take it back. Several clippings did archive successfully, but now I'm getting "The capture failed because Save Page Now does not have access rights" again on this one. Nick Number (talk) 23:23, 23 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Oddly, I was able to save that page on archive.org, See https://web.archive.org/web/20250424020709/https://www.newspapers.com/article/chicago-tribune-capone-effort-to-influen/170960446/ One thing is that I was logged in to my archive.org account, I wonder if that would make a difference. Also, the archive process seemed to take longer than usual. I too noticed that awhile back archive.org was not able to archive newspapers.com links. I'm not sure what's up here. Cxbrx (talk) 02:10, 24 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I was logged into archive.org during all of my attempts. This may be some tricky interaction of servers behind load balancers. Nick Number (talk) 04:38, 24 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Newspapers.com team has been working on this and they have made some additional changes to allow this. Has this improved things? Let me know if there are issues still. VSj (WMF) (talk) 05:08, 6 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I have had no problem archiving newspapers.com links lately. Bgsu98 (Talk) 11:54, 6 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Works now on my end. Timur9008 (talk) 11:55, 6 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

It's been working consistently for me for the last 10 days. Nick Number (talk) 22:25, 16 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Well, I've just had two failures to archive with "Sorry. The target server cannot find the requested resource. https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-morning-union-deaths-wm-h-porter/172903182/ (HTTP status=404)." However, both worked when I resubmitted them with the short URL, e.g. https://www.newspapers.com/article/172903182/. I'm not sure what that indicates. Nick Number (talk) 16:23, 22 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Similarly to the above section, I applied for access, and received the email from Wikipedia, but continue to have no access. Once I sign in to Newspapers with the address I used, I too only receive a "you are only registered as a guest" line, and continue to have no access. Saltymagnolia 20:31, 9 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

No matter if I'm trying to access 'www-newspapers-com.wikipedialibrary.idm.oclc.org/' in my searchbar, or through the Wikipedia Library page, it always immediately redirects to 'newspapers.com' without the library part. In other words, I'm not able to access any pages on the site - as it acts as though I'm without a Wikipedia account. Could anyone lend any help or insight as to why this is happening? It has been happening for about a week now. Thanks. TangoTizerWolfstone (talk) 13:43, 18 August 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I am having the same problem! I frequently use Newspapers.com both for writing and for source-checking Good Articles, so I really miss it. ~ L 🌸 (talk) 02:03, 14 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

We've been discussing this issue over here. While there are 100% issues going on with access right now, you also will likely need to renew your subscription by going to "View my applications" on the top right side of the Wikipedia Library website page. Silverseren^C 02:09, 14 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@TangoTizerWolfstone @LEvalyn It seems like you're trying to access Newspapers.com using the old method of access, which is no longer supported due to technical issues. Please see this post where I detail how Newspapers.com is now accessed. Samwalton9 (WMF) (talk) 14:08, 3 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@LEvalyn: Hi, apologies but I'm not seeing the post you're linking to, it pipes to a near-empty talk page. Can you please redirect me, thanks. TangoTizerWolfstone (talk) 00:59, 21 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I think you wanted to ping Samwalton9 (WMF) for this query. (In my case, I wasn't using the old method of access, but I did need to wait a few days for my new-mode access to renew.) ~ L 🌸 (talk) 02:02, 21 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Oh yes, apologies! @Samwalton9 (WMF):? (fwiw I tried to renew my Newspapers application but it came back invalid - maybe because my access should theoretically still be ongoing at the moment?) TangoTizerWolfstone (talk) 09:38, 21 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I was clicking through a clipping in an article I wrote in a mobile browser where I wasn’t signed into newspapers.com, and it brought up a “one of five free articles” banner. After clicking five more articles, it said “You've reached your 5-article limit.” and prevented me from reading before.

Is this a thing that’s happening? Did we know about this? It’d really suck if clippings are now locked behind a paywall for non-subscribers. 1brianm7 (talk) 20:28, 1 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I'm running into a similar issue. Newspapers articles that would normally show up without paywall are now asking me to upgrade to a "Publisher Extra Subscription". I didn't even get the 5 article limit part. It looks like they've changed the subscription types. It's the site's right to do that, but I do wish that there was more of a warning about this.

Looks like it's being discussed in the link in the section above, though. ReaderofthePack(formerly Tokyogirl79) (｡◕‿◕｡) 02:38, 3 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@Samwalton9 (WMF): I'm now seeing this consistently with new clippings (e.g. this and this) – when viewed in an incognito window, they're all showing "You've reached your 5-article limit." Nick Number (talk) 21:00, 10 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

And this is also consistently affecting archives of new clippings on both Wayback Machine (example) and archive.today (example), which was not the case before. I guess we can start taking screenshots of pre-1930 articles and uploading them to Commons if they're not going to be freely viewable anymore, but what a pain. Nick Number (talk) 05:47, 11 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@1brianm7 It sounds like you might be trying to look at an actual Newspaper page, rather than a clipping. Can you share the URL you're trying to access that's showing you this message please? Samwalton9 (WMF) (talk) 14:08, 3 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

This clipping that I clipped a few months ago is what I was looking at. When I clicked on it in Safari on mobile, where I was not signed into newspapers.com, it popped up a page saying "1/5 free article read" or something like that. I then clicked on a bunch of other random clippings that I have added to the Frank Elbridge Webb article, with the sixth link being put behind a paywall.

Just now I opened up the same clipping on Google Chrome, where I am also not signed into newspapers.com, and it put down "You're reading 1 of 3 free articles.", with a banner above reading "Freeview: Enjoy this clipping for free". I clicked on another three links, all assorted clippings I've put on the Frank Elbridge Webb article, with the fourth reading "You've reached your 3-article limit. / Unlock Unlimited Access / Curiosity shouldn't have limits. You've read your 3 free articles. Start a 7‑day free trial now to continue exploring without interruptions. Cancel anytime."

To clarify, everything works perfectly fine when I'm signed in, I just did a clipping a minute ago to check, but when I'm not signed in I (and I must presume any reader who doesn't have a subscription as well) there is a limit to the clippings I can read. It had been my understanding that linking to a clipping previously let anyone read it, even without a subscription. 1brianm7 (talk) 14:25, 3 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@1brianm7 Hmm, this is odd. I don't see the same thing you're seeing. When I click that clipping (not logged into any account) I see the "Freeview" sentence, but no 1/5, and I've been able to refresh the page a number of times and click around to other clippings and still not seeing any 1/5 or 1/3 issue. I wonder if they're doing some A/B testing or other experiments and I'm still in the control group. Samwalton9 (WMF) (talk) 15:42, 3 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I'm seeing "You're reading 1 of 1 free articles." I don't even get 5! CMD (talk) 16:07, 3 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Just tried this clipping in an incognito window and worked fine. --Engineerchange (talk) 14:14, 3 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Here's an imgur link to what I just saw. 1brianm7 (talk) 14:29, 3 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I was just able to replicate this by going to 4 different clippings in a row on an incognito browser. Is there someone at Newspapers.com we can ask about this? I feel like clippings were historically considered a "non-article" and did not count towards this article count metric. Maybe it's a bug on their end that we can note to their partnership team? --Engineerchange (talk) 16:16, 3 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, it seems if I'm not in incognito mode, I can see clippings with no apparent limit, even if I'm not logged in. So it's "free" in exchange for tracking info. —Bagumba (talk) 20:00, 18 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

• Comment: Has this been resolved? I put in for a renewal and received it, but still have no luck with articles. I did take a look at my account on Newspapers.com, but it doesn't show that anything has been renewed. I haven't changed anything about my account. I haven't received any emails from them recently either. ReaderofthePack(formerly Tokyogirl79) (｡◕‿◕｡) 23:11, 5 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

  @ReaderofthePack We've contacted Newspapers.com to ask for more information on this. As for your account renewal, you'll receive an email from Newspapers.com when your account has been configured on their end. Samwalton9 (WMF) (talk) 14:58, 6 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

  @Samwalton9 (WMF): Do you know how long it will take for the email to come? I have the expiration date at TWL as November 2 of next year, so the renewal was fairly recent. I'm trying to be patient. :) ReaderofthePack(formerly Tokyogirl79) (｡◕‿◕｡) 21:53, 7 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

  @ReaderofthePack We don't have any visibility, unfortunately - we send them over and then at some point they'll email you. It's usually done within 1-2 weeks. Samwalton9 (WMF) (talk) 07:29, 11 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

• I can confirm from reading Wikipedia at work today (only reading, not editing) that the "Only 5 free articles to view" thing is still very much in place. So clippings are very much not useful for our readers at the moment. Silverseren^C 21:06, 10 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I can confirm that this is happening on clippings that I have created. It is contrary to what they say on their website: "You can easily share public clippings by email or on Facebook, X, or other social sites. When you share a public clipping, other people can see the image even if they don't subscribe to Newspapers.com™." (emphaisis mine; see https://www.newspapers.com/basics/viewing/ under the subheading "Share intersting stories you find"). I have written to them to complain. I have also complained that their clippings do not offer any magnification, so that clippings that are more than a couple of columns wide are essentially unreadable, which makes the feature useless. I suspect that the clippings feature was a clever way to trick subscribers into generating free advertising for Newspapers.com com. Bmcfann (talk) 16:24, 18 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Here is an excerpt of my correspondence with Newspapers.com on the lack of magnification for clippings:

Me: Public clippings need magnification: the text in muti-column clippings is too small to read. If I am going to share clippings so that other people can read what I have found (which is the whole purpose of this feature, isn't it?), then they have to actually be able to read from the clipped image. ...

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Newspapers.com: Thank you for contacting Newspapers.com. While you are viewing a full-page image, there are several sets of tools that can help you adjust, navigate, and save the content.

In the top right corner of the image, there are three adjustment options available. The plus sign allows you to zoom in on the image and the minus sign allows you to zoom out. And the half moon icon allows you to adjust the brightness and/or contrast, or to invert the image.

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Me: You didn't read my question. I am saying that non-subscribers need a magnification tool when they view public clippings. Currently, there isn't one.

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Newspapers.com: Non-subscribers do not have access to our content. You would need a subscription to view our content.

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Me: That is not true. Clippings can be viewed by the public without a subscription. And clippings contain content. Therefore, non-subscribers DO have access to your content. But the ability to make clippings is not much use to me, a subscriber, if the public can see them but not actually read them because the print is too small.

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Newspapers.com did not reply Bmcfann (talk) 16:53, 18 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@Bmcfann: The small print issue can at least be worked around in most cases by creating multiple smaller clippings, and the OCR text is provided.
Newspapers.com might respond that the "other people can see the image even if they don't subscribe" statement is still technically accurate since apparently each IP address gets 5 free views. However, if they don't change this new policy, they should at least specify how long it takes for the counter to reset. 5 views per IP per day would be a big improvement, for example. In any case, it's important that they exempt Wayback and archive.today IPs so that the information can be preserved. That shouldn't meaningfully compromise their paywall, since looking for the archived copy is enough of an inconvenience to deter casual readers. Nick Number (talk) 19:34, 18 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

This something I've noticed since mid-October ish. On the Grand Slam Bridge article (that I created). I've archived all the Newspapers.com clippings but after a few couple of days 3 of of the 4 clippings were no longer archived/unregistered via the Wayback Machine.

Is anyone else experiencing this? Timur9008 (talk) 13:45, 7 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I've continued to see the issue from the earlier thread, where archiving to Wayback intermittently errors out. I haven't noticed that successfully archived clippings go away, though I haven't been checking for that. Also archive.today has been working consistently. Nick Number (talk) 14:00, 7 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Forgot to mention but on the Grand Slam Bringe article I've actually archived those clippings for a second time [2] but the same thing happened. Timur9008 (talk) 14:05, 7 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Make that 4 of 4 now since the last clipping is no longer archived. Hopefully this gets resolved. Timur9008 (talk) 03:48, 8 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I was able to reproduce this. Last week I archived a clipping on Wayback and archive.today. Both completed successfully and I was able to access them immediately afterward. However now the Wayback one is gone. This is quite troubling. Nick Number (talk) 18:16, 15 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I think could be a Wayback issue. I archived this [3] but that archive is also gone. Timur9008 (talk) 15:43, 16 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

No idea what to do or how to fix this, just wanted to say this development is very disheartening & troubling. - Shearonink (talk) 16:49, 16 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

It sounds like it might be best to raise this issue with the Internet Archive folks if this isn't a Newspapers.com specific issue? Samwalton9 (WMF) (talk) 14:45, 17 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@Samwalton9 (WMF): Does the Foundation have a technical contact for them? Nick Number (talk) 19:33, 17 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@Nick Number Possibly (I'm not sure), but I'd recommend going through their standard support mechanisms first (looks like that's emailing infoarchive.org, from a quick search). Samwalton9 (WMF) (talk) 12:56, 18 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@Samwalton9 (WMF): I'll contact archive.org and report back. Cxbrx (talk) 15:45, 18 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@Samwalton9 (WMF): Ok, I emailed them. Nick Number (talk) 16:13, 18 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@Samwalton9 (WMF): & @Nick Number: I received the following reply;

Thank you for contacting us.

We're sorry you and other Wikipedia editors have been experiencing issues with newspapers.com snapshots not appearing in the Wayback Machine; thank you for letting us know!

Web pages are replayed by the Wayback Machine based on them having been indexed by our services. The Wayback Machine uses several indexes, each of which covers different relative time periods. Under certain conditions pages added to a near-real-time index used by our Save Page Now service can be expired before they are indexed by another index. A symptom of that happening is that an archive added by our Save Page Now service may be available for playback for a few hours or days and then might not be available for some time until it is reindexed.

Rest assured that no archives are lost in this process and that we are working hard to speed things up and reduce occurrence of this happening.

There are also a few other “edge cases” where older pages may be temporarily unavailable for playback. Those are related to timing issues of longer-term indexes and those too will “self heal”. Regardless, we are always happy to investigate any questions you might have.

Sorry we don't have better news for you right this moment. We appreciate your patience, and please feel free to reach out in the meantime if you have any other questions!

(Bolding in original) Cxbrx (talk) 22:25, 19 November 2025 (UTC)`[reply]

@Cxbrx and Samwalton9 (WMF): I received the same reply. It's good news, if a little confusing. I'll make myself reminders to check on my missing clipping periodically. Nick Number (talk) 23:21, 19 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

It's been over a month and my clipping is still showing that it hasn't been archived. I'll continue to monitor it. Nick Number (talk) 15:23, 10 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Yeah the issue still remains. Timur9008 (talk) 15:32, 10 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Their latest response:

Per Mark Graham, the Director of the Wayback Machine, we are in the process of configuring upgraded indexing hardware to address the ongoing indexing delays, and hope to have things mostly caught up by the end of the year.

I understand how frustrating this can be– we are working to address this issue once and for all. Pease feel free to reach out if you have any other questions!

Nick Number (talk) 22:39, 10 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you for the updates! Hopefully this gets sorted out. Timur9008 (talk) 12:11, 11 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Looks like its fixed now :) (at least on my end) Timur9008 (talk) 15:06, 15 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Old clippings are now viewable for me as well. That is very good news.
Unfortunately, per the thread above, newly created clippings still can't be archived, as they all show "You've reached your 5-article limit." Nick Number (talk) 19:21, 18 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]