I recall that Japan Today used the word "subscribe," but don't remember if they paid anything for the articles from truthout.
I just went to truthout, and subscriptions appear to be free.
That would make sense.
A free subscription.
Truthout mails the piece. Japan Today runs it, since they 'subscribe' to the 'free service'.
Then Pitt claims that they had no permission to republish it.
I did make the mental translation of "we subscribe" to "we purchase".