While City Cast Nashville will always be free for readers and listeners, many news sources and magazines are behind a paywall so they can keep the lights on. Here are ways to (legally!) access select newspapers and magazines for free as a Nashvillian.
Speaking of keeping the lights on, Congress recently eliminated funding for PBS and NPR. If you’re able, we encourage you to support WPLN and our local PBS station.
Nashville Public Library partners with PressReader to offer free online access to numerous newspapers and magazines, with or without a library card.
- The easiest way to access PressReader is with your Nashville Public Library card. Open the PressReader website, plug in your NPL card number and PIN, and start reading.
- You can also download the PressReader app. The app will initially say you need to pay after a free seven-day trial, but once you create an account with your NPL card, it will be free for you after the trial.
- Create an account to save articles and magazines across platforms.
- If you don’t have an NPL card (why?!), visit any NPL branch, click on the “Access” link on NPL’s PressReader article, and you’ll join the PressReader HotSpot.
What Can I Read on PressReader?
- Newspapers like The New York Times, The Guardian, The Boston Globe, and USA Today
- Hundreds of magazines covering many topics, including The Economist, Cosmopolitan, Rolling Stone, Good Housekeeping, Simply Crochet, and my daughter’s favorite, Modern Cat
- Books in the public domain
- You can also play sudoku, solve crossword puzzles, complete word searches, and more
The Tennessee Electronic Library provides free public access to numerous newspapers and magazines to all Tennesseans, no library card or identification needed. The formatting isn’t as user-friendly as PressReader and does not include images. TEL partners with Gale OneFile to provide this resource.
- Check out their most popular newspapers and magazines, including The Tennessean and The Washington Post, which aren’t available on PressReader.
