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'Paywall' removed

The new millennium has been a transformative time for newspaper publishing.

Changing reader habits and the advent of new technology have placed big demands on companies in the print news business.

The Acorn and its parent company, Times Media Group, understand that their biggest responsibility is not only the delivery of credible, relevant information in a timely fashion, but making sure residents have easy access to the publication when stories become available.

That’s why we’re super excited about the news being shared today.

Following a five-year stretch in which Acorn readers were given the option of purchasing online subscriptions to the paper, that so-called “paywall” is coming down.

“Mr. Publisher, tear down this wall,” the late President Ronald Reagan might have once said.

And so we did.

Starting immediately, all online content from our five Acorn publications will be available at no charge to the reader, meaning a paid subscription is no longer required to click and read articles. The weekly Acorn has always been delivered to your driveway at no cost—that more than 40-year tradition will continue—and from now on The Acorn on the internet will be free as well.

Why the change?

The Acorn is your community newspaper, and we want to make sure it stays that way. We believe it’s important that residents feel a connection to the stories we write and also learn about the businesses that advertise in their community. The absence of a paywall is the best way to ensure this free-flow of information remains.

We also invite readers to sign up for the new, easy-to-read Acorn newspaper e-edition delivered weekly to your e-mail. Viewed on mobile, desktop or laptop, the pages are super easy to navigate and, free, just like the print paper.

Local journalism is first gear in the engine that drives America’s free press, and a free press it shall be.

Archives

Hearts shatter, blood splatters in edgy Sondheim masterpiece

THEATER REVIEW /// ‘Sweeney Todd’


“A cut above.” “Razor-sharp thriller.” “A slice of life in seamy London.” After more than 40 years, all the puns about “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” have been used. Stephen Sondheim’s masterpiece is onstage now at Moorpark College, and all of those puns apply to the school’s ambitious production. The challenges inherent in “Sweeney”—operatic singing, the difficult […]

5-Star shines light on Sun jam

THEATER REVIEW /// ‘Million Dollar Quartet’


On Tuesday, Dec. 4, 1956, a chance meeting in a recording studio in Memphis resulted in a landmark event in rock ’n’ roll history. The incident was instigated by Sun Records owner/producer Sam Phillips, who wanted a follow-up hit for Carl Perkins’ rockabilly classic “Blue Suede Shoes.” With the young dynamo Jerry Lee Lewis sitting in on piano, Phillips was […]

Artist showings at Gardens of World

The Gardens of the World is re-opening its Resource Center as a venue where local artists can exhibit their works at 2001 Thousand Oaks Blvd., Thousand Oaks. Owned and operated by the Hogan Family Foundation, Inc., the 4.5-acre cultural garden is free to the public. In addition, the Gardens of the World Resource Center will display the artwork of the […]

A Gilbert and Sullivan classic goes steampunk

THEATER REVIEW /// ‘The Mikado’


Since its premiere 139 years ago, Gilbert and Sullivan’s “The Mikado” has become one of the most popular and important light operettas of all time. The satire of 19th century British institutions features several songs that have flourished outside the context of the show, including “Willow, Titwillow,” “A Wandering Minstrel I” and “The Flowers That Bloom in the Spring.” But […]

Fans of beloved TV series are in for a big treat with 3-day Simi festival

Their house was little, but the influence of the Ingalls family remains gigantic. The 1880s-era adventures of this pioneer family were first chronicled in Laura Ingalls Wilder’s bestselling books in the 1930s and ’40s. New generations of fans began discovering the Ingalls when the “Little House on the Prairie” TV series debuted in 1974. Five decades later, the series—filmed in […]

Play is searing indictment of antisemitism in the South

THEATER REVIEW /// ‘Parade’


It’s been over a 100 years since Mary Phagan, a 13-year-old Atlanta pencil factory worker, was horrifically murdered. Leo Frank, the Jewish man who managed the factory, was convicted of the crime and sentenced to death. Though his sentence was later commuted to life by the Georgia governor, an antisemitic mob kidnapped Frank from jail and lynched him. Today, many […]

WHS choir goes back in time



It’s been a while since we checked in with Westlake High School’s choir program so we thought we’d see what its acclaimed show ensemble, A Class Act, was up to this semester. In its pre-pandemic phase, ACA performed tightly arranged themed medleys of songs with the members of the choir decked out in rented glitzy uniform/dance costumes. Today, choir director […]

Smooth!

Soulful gospel and R&B tunes

CONCERT REVIEW /// Blind Boys of Alabama


An enthusiastic audience at the Kavli Theatre on Feb. 8 clapped and shouted, bobbed and bounced, and were altogether thrilled by the Blind Boys of Alabama, the venerable vocal group that has blended blues, gospel and R&B since the first members formed in 1939. Over their long career, which started at the Alabama Institute for the Negro Deaf and Blind […]

Follow the yellow brick road to an excellent, enchanting adventure

THEATER REVIEW /// ‘The Wizard of Oz’
Theater presents stunning visuals and fine singing and acting


The plot in “The Wizard of Oz” has been jokingly reduced to “two women fight to the death over a pair of shoes,” but to millions of fans around the world, “Oz” is an almost sacred subject. The classic 1939 film is so embedded in our collective psyches that anyone from 8 to 80 can tick off its most memorable […]


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