> Newspapers charged a fee to print a death notice or obituary if the paper had not elected to publish the death as a newsworthy event, compounding the weight of publication for families who might need to conserve their savings.
For my father's obit, which was 3 paragraphs, I was charged almost $200 back in 2008.
Obituaries & legal notices kept newspapers afloat since Craigslist killed off the classified ad revenue.
It’s the most popular section for local newspapers, nowadays they typically charge to have someone listed in the obituaries, unless the paper is too small
Hacker News