There have been some journalists - Tapper, Trip Gabriel - who have argued that this is Hurting Journalism somehow, and readers should do something more productive like, I dunno, subscribe twice to show their support.
For decades some journalists have operated under the belief that if only there were a few more subscriptions, then journalism would be saved. The industry has certainly faced some genuine challenges, which were met with gross mismanagement (including outright looting by owners) much of the time!