Thus, when you’re tempted to share a Politico article, please look instead for an article from a different source.
(Also, if you’re wondering, know that Axel Springer, the mass media company, has nothing to do with Springer, the science publisher (with the chess knight logo; it’s named after Julius Springer; it deserves criticism of its own, but a different kind.)
As things have turned out, one can hardly censure the people who did so.
There are several interrelated reasons: Lack of funding (in part due to a lack of an advertising subsidy, which is a good thing), lack of prominence, lack of readers recognizing the value of independent journalism.
The crucial thing is that with everyone who does recognize its value—and the harm caused by a corporate-dominated media landscape—and who therefor starts to make a conscious effort to read independent sources more often, to point others to them, and to support them financially (which I do, for the record), those issues improve in tandem.