It's not a form of blackmail. Newspapers can't survive if everyone reads them on the Internet for free. Digital, rather than paper subscriptions are not just the wave of the future, but the wave of the present.
Hello the internet has been for close to 18 years been affecting news outlets around the world. The NYT has been going downhill from regular subscriptions and on the internet, the only way they can boost their ratings is with the system they’re using now by having the public sign up with a (temporary) subscription so as to falsify ther ratings.
