Yes, but that’s because most people aren’t professional writers. In the real world, only something like .2% of people are published. Most of what is written on the web is badly written, doesn’t take SEO into consideration, and isn’t particularly infromative. It’s generally the same thing copied from other writers. There is no real research, no analysis, etc. Obviously, it is unlikely that they will get paid anything.

If you think that’s the fault of Medium, you are mistaken. Let those people try to get published in Cosmopolitcan, etc. They won’t be. Just because the web makes it okay for everybody to publish doesn’t mean that everybody’s work is up to a publishable standard.

I think it’s one helluve attitude of entitlement to presume that every piece of writing needs to be paid for. It misleads most people. Writing, like any other skill, needs to be learned. In addition, it is something of an art as well, and that requires a particular bent in that directly. Most people don’t have it.