RIP: Newspapers

[Doctor Mugen]

Out of curiosity, anyone here still read newspapers?

I was listening to a BBC report over online-radio ironically who were lamenting about the decline of newspapers. I know the Rocky Mountain News died at age 150 just recently.

Ashamedly, I only read a newspaper maybe 2-4 times per month at best.

[Jasonoff]

What's a newspaper?

[S2Kouichi]

Daily. Most of it is done on-line, but if i see one lying around i'll pick it up and read at least a few pages. unfortunately what comes out first is given more weight than the accuracy of the story, and so it gives credible news outlets a disadvantage over these bloggers who have no accountability and almost nothing to risk.

[My_yella_s2k]

I read a paper only on the weekends, when I'm home...

[Chris S]

I read my local paper online, they send a daily email w/ links to their stories. We have it delivered Sundays, but often don't read it.

[JCoxRocks]

If I didnt have to be up so early for work, I would totally sit with a cup of coffee and read the paper. I remember when I was a kid, I thought "When I grow up I'm gonna drink coffee and read the paper every morning just like my dad!"

Now I'm grown up, working 60hrs and week and lucky if I catch a blurb on the local news website on a 20 min lunch break. Ahhhhh life.

J

[kwando]

Denver's Rocky Mountain News just closed their doors, a few days shy of their 150 year anniversary. Sad sight to see, i remember seeing my parents reading the newspaper daily as i left for school.

i still use it to clean windows, works better than anything!

[Presidente]

i think there will always be a market for it, just like vinyl

[Chris S]

i think there will always be a market for it, just like vinyl

But it costs a lot more to produce and distribute a daily paper than it does a vinyl record! You have to sell a lot of papers, and more importantly, advertising, to be profitable.

[SondraS2k]

I have watched the demise of the paper paper with great sadness. I am now living in the first city I've ever lived in as an adult that I didn't work for the newspaper (The Austin American Stateman is so horrible that I refuse to sully my resume with it). There is something very calming about bringing the paper in off the step and settling in with a cup of hot tea before starting my day. I wish Austin would get a paper worth the newsprint it's printed on!

[tantheman]

A newspaper is my preferred choice on getting the news, but other media sources will follow thru the rest of the day, since there is no evening edition.

Tan

[txs2knoah]

dont old people only read it ?

[KeepItStock]

Every Day! But I won't read the Sunday New York Times - that takes a whole week to read.

[kgf3076]

dont old people only read it ?

Yep, because we're the generation that knows how to read and comprehend the printed word in it's entirety. Most of the younger generation don't have an attention-span long enough to read a comic strip much less a newspaper.

[My_yella_s2k]

Every Day! But I won't read the Sunday New York Times - that takes a whole week to read.

It is purrrrdy big....and HEAVY!

[bjurasz]

I used to be a member of Sports Shooter back when I was photographing sports on a regular basis, but when I became a member I was quite surprised at just how many of them were photojournalists working for newspapers. During my membership I've seen countless forum threads on the demise of newspapers. From what I can gather the bulk of the problems are from leveraged industry consolidation. Couple this with declining ad revenue and they are unable to make all those debt payments. Some newspapers would even still be profitable today if it weren't for the debt. Sound familiar? Housing market anyone?

I doubt online publication of the newspaper is going to save them. Not unless they can find a way to make seriously more money in online advertisting, which nobody seems to have figured out yet.

On the bright side, even though large city dailies are having a tough time, the small local weeklies appear to be thriving. The Cedar Park and Leander areas of north Austin have three weekly papers, and Amy and I read them regularly. We get local news we just can't get anywhere else. For state, national and international news I favor CNN (TV and online), Yahoo Finance, and Bloomberg and NYT on my iPhone.

[dcat151]

I subscribe to the AJC and read it daily. Sadly they've implemented a number of cost-cutting measures that are cutting out the things I enjoy in the paper (and raising the subscription price at the same time). I'll probably continue to subscribe until the paper goes under, but I'm going to hate to see them continue to cut things I enjoy.

[wtmohr]

I ride the train to work and read it everyday and do the crossword puzzle on the way back. Unfortunately, the publisher of the major Philadelphia newspaper is in bankruptcy proceedings so who knows what we'll wind up with. Something about picking what I want to read and being able to go in depth is preferable to the newsbites on TV.... And yes, I'm over 50 so it's an ingrained habit as much as anything...

[takeshi]

Out of curiosity, anyone here still read newspapers?

Not really. I'll occasionally hit the Houston Chronicle web site but I won't every touch a printed copy (seems like a bit of a waste unless you also happen to have a puppy to housebreak or a kid that loves to papier mache).

However, I will flip through the Press while getting coffee at Catalina.