[poll] do you buy a daily newspaper?
[poll] do you buy a daily newspaper?
so, the newspaper industry is rapidly changing (shrinking and going online). do you still consistently get a daily paper delivered or get one from newstands/boxes? we still get a daily, and i'll flip through it (old habits die hard), but i wouldn't mind dropping it. it's the spouse that wants to keep it. i'm sure that newspaper readership skews older, whereas younger folks go online. i was thinking about having "over 50 / under 50" polling options, but that gets too messy. instead, i think it would be more interesting to see if the trend of dropping the paper is accelerating.
-
- Posts: 2661
- Joined: Sun Aug 02, 2009 10:25 am
- Location: Washington
Reading the daily newspaper delivered to my driveway every day is a regular habit I'll never give up.
I rely on the newspaper rather than the news sites on the net because I will run across stories or ads or announcementson that will lead me to info that I might not have found on the net. If I subconscously see the water heater ad every day. a one day sale on shoes, an open letter from the local teachers, or a meeting for hikers this Saturday I can file away in my mind things that I wouldn't have found on the net. The paper will have a wealth of interesting but rather unimportant info about weather problems in Bangladesh, a centuries old festival in Peru, or any number of slightly interesting tidbits to vary my morning read.
Going to the net and targeting only what I want to learn about just isn't very interesting for me.
Newspapers are dying?
Yes, I read that in the paper the other day but I just don't believe it.
I rely on the newspaper rather than the news sites on the net because I will run across stories or ads or announcementson that will lead me to info that I might not have found on the net. If I subconscously see the water heater ad every day. a one day sale on shoes, an open letter from the local teachers, or a meeting for hikers this Saturday I can file away in my mind things that I wouldn't have found on the net. The paper will have a wealth of interesting but rather unimportant info about weather problems in Bangladesh, a centuries old festival in Peru, or any number of slightly interesting tidbits to vary my morning read.
Going to the net and targeting only what I want to learn about just isn't very interesting for me.
Newspapers are dying?
Yes, I read that in the paper the other day but I just don't believe it.
I let my SF Chronicle subscription lapse last year when they sent me a renewal notice for hundreds of dollars more than I had been paying annually.
A shrinking paper along with increasing prices is no way to keep your readers.
I'm still a bit sad though. Reading a daily newspaper has been a big part of my life. (Incidentally, I would've checked the "under 50" box.)
A shrinking paper along with increasing prices is no way to keep your readers.
I'm still a bit sad though. Reading a daily newspaper has been a big part of my life. (Incidentally, I would've checked the "under 50" box.)
You can get all of the information online. It's a lot faster than waiting for a paper in the morning.
I follow a number of newsfeeds, which gives me all of the random information that I'd get turning pages in a newspaper.
The analysis and fact checking on the internet is better than what I've found in any newspaper. Pure on-the-scene reporting may be better from newspapers, but this advantage is slipping. And in any event all of the information is available online before it's printed.
I follow a number of newsfeeds, which gives me all of the random information that I'd get turning pages in a newspaper.
The analysis and fact checking on the internet is better than what I've found in any newspaper. Pure on-the-scene reporting may be better from newspapers, but this advantage is slipping. And in any event all of the information is available online before it's printed.
i've heard that, too, but never read any hard data... so, some googling around and ended up at newspaper association of america... circulation data from 2008, starting at 1940four7s wrote:Newspapers are dying?
Yes, I read that in the paper the other day but I just don't believe it.
http://www.naa.org/TrendsandNumbers/Tot ... ation.aspx
but as their data stopped at 2008, i wanted to find 2009. NYT reported year over year total US circulation drop of 9% from '08 to '09, so i added that to the table and charted it. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/27/busin ... audit.html
to answer your (non-rhetorical?) question: that looks like a dying business plan to me. and it's a death spiral. they have fewer paid subscriptions, so less revenue. they get less advertising dollars, so need to cut newsroom staff. revenue falls. eyeballs drop. advertising drops. classified rates drop off a cliff. goodbye, "My hometown chronicle", and hello MyHometownChronicle.com.
changes are coming to the old yellow sheets. in fact, they're here. and i think they'll be accelerating. i think it's sadly ironic that the newspapers are documenting and doing stories on their own demise.
- House Blend
- Posts: 4878
- Joined: Fri May 04, 2007 1:02 pm
I would, but my city (pop. > 100,000) no longer has a daily newspaper.
There's an interesting article in the Atlantic about Google's efforts to help change the business model for news. (Apparently Google thinks that it needs the news business to survive.) AFAIR, someone is quoted as predicting that newspapers will cease to exist in the US by 2020.
URL: http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc ... news/8095/
I have only a sentimental attachment to the dead tree format. If all news is e-delivered at some point, so be it.
What I am very concerned about is the prospect that outside of major cities, reporting of local news will wither and die. It's already happening in my community. We can't have a properly functioning government, not to mention an informed voting public, without a fourth estate willing and able to expose incompetence and corruption at the local level.
There's an interesting article in the Atlantic about Google's efforts to help change the business model for news. (Apparently Google thinks that it needs the news business to survive.) AFAIR, someone is quoted as predicting that newspapers will cease to exist in the US by 2020.
URL: http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc ... news/8095/
I have only a sentimental attachment to the dead tree format. If all news is e-delivered at some point, so be it.
What I am very concerned about is the prospect that outside of major cities, reporting of local news will wither and die. It's already happening in my community. We can't have a properly functioning government, not to mention an informed voting public, without a fourth estate willing and able to expose incompetence and corruption at the local level.
-
- Posts: 13356
- Joined: Tue Mar 23, 2010 1:45 pm
- Location: Reading, MA
Back in the 70s and 80s, I'd pick up a Boston Globe (actually the Evening Globe, RIP) most days.
At some point I stopped and haven't bought a major paper on the home front in over 10 years now.
I get my major news from boston.com and wbztv.com now.
But.....my local town-wide news isn't available online, so I have the Reading Chronicle home-delivered 5 days a week...
At some point I stopped and haven't bought a major paper on the home front in over 10 years now.
I get my major news from boston.com and wbztv.com now.
But.....my local town-wide news isn't available online, so I have the Reading Chronicle home-delivered 5 days a week...
I had the daily newspaper delivered to my driveway every morning. It was always late and many times in the ditch. I continued my subscription to feed my habit.
They advertised an electronic/PDF version...7 days a week...less coupons...which we rarely use. I tried the electronic version, liked it, and cancelled my delivery edition...saving over $70 per year. The delivery edition arrived about 7AM; the electronic version is available around 6AM. They send me an email when it's ready. It took me a few days to get used to navigating around the electronic edition. I'll never look back.
The paper/delivered edition is $140.40 per year; the electronic version is $64.69 per year.
http://www.olivesoftware.com/ provides the service...although I subscribe directly with the paper.
They advertised an electronic/PDF version...7 days a week...less coupons...which we rarely use. I tried the electronic version, liked it, and cancelled my delivery edition...saving over $70 per year. The delivery edition arrived about 7AM; the electronic version is available around 6AM. They send me an email when it's ready. It took me a few days to get used to navigating around the electronic edition. I'll never look back.
The paper/delivered edition is $140.40 per year; the electronic version is $64.69 per year.
http://www.olivesoftware.com/ provides the service...although I subscribe directly with the paper.
-
- Posts: 165
- Joined: Thu May 14, 2009 10:19 am
The large spread format of the newspaper makes it cumbersome and awkward to read. I dislike the smeary ink, having to jump from A1 to A12 to finish an article, the need to fold it in order to have something that fits in your hands... perhaps I'm a curmudgeon, but I'll never buy a paper again.
I read news online voraciously, but if I was asked to choose between reading the paper or nothing at all, I'd choose nothing at all. I admit that the iPad and kindle look tantalizing -- perhaps I will get one in a couple of years.
I read news online voraciously, but if I was asked to choose between reading the paper or nothing at all, I'd choose nothing at all. I admit that the iPad and kindle look tantalizing -- perhaps I will get one in a couple of years.
Last edited by TigerNest on Sat May 22, 2010 12:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Get Fri,Sat and Sunday. Just for the coupons and comics. Oh and we burn the paper at our vacation home.
Last edited by MWCA on Sat May 22, 2010 12:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.
We are all worms. But I believe that I am a glow-worm.
-
- Posts: 911
- Joined: Wed Oct 21, 2009 8:12 pm
I read four online newspapers and visit 3+ business websites daily. We get the weekend newspaper but are considering cancelling that too.
Occasionally when I go out for a coffee, I will buy a WSJ. Just recently saw that it went up to $2.00.
I also have cancelled all of my magazine subscriptions. Got tired of them sending me endless requests for renewals. I once paid a subscription for a magaizine that wasn't due to expire for another year.
The older I get, I just don't need and won't put up with the clever promotions designed to separate you from your money. Newpapers, magazines, cable and online fees, cell phone plans, credit cards, air mileage programs, bank/broker rules/fees, gasoline discounts, store promotions, BOGO "sales"...it's unnecessarily complicated!
Occasionally when I go out for a coffee, I will buy a WSJ. Just recently saw that it went up to $2.00.
I also have cancelled all of my magazine subscriptions. Got tired of them sending me endless requests for renewals. I once paid a subscription for a magaizine that wasn't due to expire for another year.
The older I get, I just don't need and won't put up with the clever promotions designed to separate you from your money. Newpapers, magazines, cable and online fees, cell phone plans, credit cards, air mileage programs, bank/broker rules/fees, gasoline discounts, store promotions, BOGO "sales"...it's unnecessarily complicated!
"The wants of mortals are containers that can never be filled." (Socrates)
i think circulation is dropping even faster than the reported data indicates. it turns out that for every 'online' subscription that a newspaper sells, they can double count that in their circulation metrics. but it can't be a free add-on or they can't double count the circulation.hudson wrote:The paper/delivered edition is $140.40 per year; the electronic version is $64.69 per year.
i thought it was odd a few months ago when my local paper (pioneer press, online at twincities.com) said i could get the PDF version for just a buck a year, in addition to the hundreds i pay for paper copy. why not just free? i paid my annual renewal online. then, they sent me a paper invoice that $1.00 to get the exact online copies of the paper). they keep sending me an invoice for that stinkin' $1.00. i'm not going to bother writing a check and mail it for a $1 bill... it sounded gimmicky. turns out, they are charging that buck to be able to count those e-editions as "new subscribers" when they report their total circulation. trickery! i say
EDIT: in wonder why they didn't charge me $3.65/year for that online edition. seems like they aren't even abiding by the very low bar set by the NAA or whatever organization or trade group makes the rules on counting circulation.
http://paidcontent.org/article/419-news ... 0-percent/
It’s hard to tell how much of this can be attributed to a rule change last April. Previously, sales counted only if a print or electronic purchaser paid 25 percent of the paper’s basic rate; as of April 1, 2009, it takes a little as a cent to qualify April 1, purchasers had to pay at least one cent to qualify a copy as paid.
- nisiprius
- Advisory Board
- Posts: 52212
- Joined: Thu Jul 26, 2007 9:33 am
- Location: The terrestrial, globular, planetary hunk of matter, flattened at the poles, is my abode.--O. Henry
Oh, I loved getting the daily newspaper delivered at home. I just loved it. My wife was after me for over a decade both because of the cost and because of being "green." She really hated to see the pile of woodpulp mount.
And I loved the sheer evil, mean-spirited luxury of lying in bed on a snowy winter morning and hearing the paper hit the porch steps and knowing that some poor schlub was out there when I didn't have to be.
And I loved fighting with my wife over the Sunday paper sections. The grass is always greener, and the chunk of paper your spouse has is always better than the one you're reading.
And the stupid newspaper could have still had me as a customer to this very day, if they hadn't decided one day that it would be a clever idea to wrap all the bundles of papers in computer printouts of customer accounts, with credit card numbers. How can you possibly forgive something like that? You can't. I cancelled my subscription. I read it for free online now. For how long, I don't know.
And I loved the sheer evil, mean-spirited luxury of lying in bed on a snowy winter morning and hearing the paper hit the porch steps and knowing that some poor schlub was out there when I didn't have to be.
And I loved fighting with my wife over the Sunday paper sections. The grass is always greener, and the chunk of paper your spouse has is always better than the one you're reading.
And the stupid newspaper could have still had me as a customer to this very day, if they hadn't decided one day that it would be a clever idea to wrap all the bundles of papers in computer printouts of customer accounts, with credit card numbers. How can you possibly forgive something like that? You can't. I cancelled my subscription. I read it for free online now. For how long, I don't know.
Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen and six, result happiness; Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery.
Options
.
If you like reading the paper, but the cost is getting too high in comparison to how much you get out of it verses how much you now get from other sources such as TV, radio, or the internet, you might want to check if the paper will give you a lower subscription rate.
We got to that point and called to cancel. They wanted to keep us, so asked us what we would pay. We said no more than a $1.00 a week. They then gave us a year for the quarterly price which was a little below that. When the year was up, they sent a standardized form request for $52.00 for a year's subscription (our $1.00 a week) - which is not an option they list in the paper.
If you like reading the paper, but the cost is getting too high in comparison to how much you get out of it verses how much you now get from other sources such as TV, radio, or the internet, you might want to check if the paper will give you a lower subscription rate.
We got to that point and called to cancel. They wanted to keep us, so asked us what we would pay. We said no more than a $1.00 a week. They then gave us a year for the quarterly price which was a little below that. When the year was up, they sent a standardized form request for $52.00 for a year's subscription (our $1.00 a week) - which is not an option they list in the paper.
Randy |
SCA - Build Savings early by living below one's means, minimize Costs including taxes, and maintain a diverse Allocation.
My wife and I purchase and read 3 newspapers. Generally, we sit together and read sections individually and discuss news of interest. We have been doing that for the 50 years we have been married. On-line and tv news and analysis is not in-depth enough for local, national nor internatiional.
Jim
Jim
Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered you will never grow. (Ralph Waldo Emerson)
-
- Moderator
- Posts: 961
- Joined: Fri Oct 16, 2009 10:49 pm
What paper do you read?bpp wrote:I also have a feeling that the stories in the paper are more detailed than the ones online. Somehow reading stories online leaves an unsatisfied feeling.
I've never seen any difference between online and print versions, unless the online has been updated for accuracy or new developments.
Asahi Shinbun.richard wrote:What paper do you read?bpp wrote:I also have a feeling that the stories in the paper are more detailed than the ones online. Somehow reading stories online leaves an unsatisfied feeling.
I've never seen any difference between online and print versions, unless the online has been updated for accuracy or new developments.
I'm 51 and have been a life long reader of newspapers. Currently subscribe to my local daily newspaper and read it everyday. I enjoy the feel and smell of a newspaper and enjoy the new color enhanced photo's they are printing now. I read the newspaper to get local news mainly and the local retail sale advertising. I really enjoy the Wall Street Journal and read it a couple times a week at the local public library.
I also read the NY Times, Los Angeles Times, Minneapolis Star Tribune, and the Washington Post on the internet a couple times a week but like I said I enjoy feeling a real newspaper in my hands every morning.
I won't be buying a Kindle news reader until my eye sight goes bad which is hopefully many years down the road.
I also read the NY Times, Los Angeles Times, Minneapolis Star Tribune, and the Washington Post on the internet a couple times a week but like I said I enjoy feeling a real newspaper in my hands every morning.
I won't be buying a Kindle news reader until my eye sight goes bad which is hopefully many years down the road.
We buy the Sunday paper every week. They just started an online version.
They have had the front page, opinion, classified, and some of the sport section of the paper online for free for several years, and I do read that daily.
I'm starting to see how important the local paper is in shedding the light local government. So I'm considering subscribing to the E-version of the paper to show them some financial support.
They have had the front page, opinion, classified, and some of the sport section of the paper online for free for several years, and I do read that daily.
I'm starting to see how important the local paper is in shedding the light local government. So I'm considering subscribing to the E-version of the paper to show them some financial support.
I get two
I get The New York Times (for national news) and Baltimore Sun (for sports, comics, and local news), delivered every day. I find a paper paper much easier to read, and it can be read in many places that an online paper cannot, such as on the train or in a pizzeria.
Don't know how I fit into the poll. I buy a daily newspaper a few times a week but not everyday. Pick it up from a store or coin box. I know you can get the news thru the internet but, every once in a while, I want to read the paper in print. I noticed our local newspapers classified online is far inferior to the print version. For example, if I was looking for a car the online version links to Autotrader which excludes most of the private party listings and local dealers inventory.
Francis
Francis
Started the newspaper habit at home as a little kid. My folks subscribed to 3 papers, and I learned to read by studying the baseball box scores. Later I was a paperboy for years. Now I get up in the morning and the Boston Globe is in the driveway for me. Coffee and the paper, a ritual for 60 years. When we're away, I read the online edition with breakfast. Like the hard copy ... too awkward to sit on the pot with my laptop.
This time, like all times, is the best of times if we but know what to do with it.
I disagree. The newspapers have a monolithically left-wing slant. After several decades, I dropped my subscription since their bias infected not only the editorial page but their so-called news coverage. Now, I get my news from talk radio and the internet and get much more rounded and objective information.pitt76 wrote:It was a better country when people got their political news from newspapers rather than sound bites and web chats.
Having a couple of cups of Joe while sitting on the deck or patio reading the paper each AM is one of the most relaxing parts of my day. Looking forward to tomorrow AM...
Part-Owner of Texas |
|
“The CMH-the Cost Matters Hypothesis -is all that is needed to explain why indexing must and will work… Yes, it is that simple.” John C. Bogle
-
- Posts: 203
- Joined: Tue Oct 30, 2007 12:34 pm
newspaper
There is a certain tactile satisfaction I get from reading the NY Times daily. My wife insists that reading it online is an infinately better experience but I would never consider it. There is something about holding it in my hands, reading it in a certain order. folding and unfolding, that relaxes me. No online news can replace that for me. Best, Peter
In the past 15 years I tried twice to subscribe to my local newspaper in Nashville. Both times we experienced poor delivery, missed papers especially on weekends. Once it became clear that local and national info was more available online and on air, in a more reliable and more immediate basis, I changed to online info...and I am in my mid 50's. Looking forward to changing from my laptop to an ipad or similar in the next few years. B/W paper is dead.
- Petrocelli
- Posts: 2966
- Joined: Mon Feb 19, 2007 5:29 pm
- Location: Fenway Park, between 2nd and 3rd base
-
- Posts: 398
- Joined: Tue Jul 01, 2008 4:32 pm
- Location: Western Washington (state)
-
- Posts: 746
- Joined: Tue Apr 24, 2007 1:24 pm
Print news from local paper (major city daily), WSJ, Economist.
Very hard IMO to get quality, in depth reporting online, but things seem to slowly be getting better. IMO people generally have not yet learned how to identify authoritative and accurate online sources. Thrill and entertainment news just seems to work better on the web, snippets of Jon Stewart, TMZ, radaronline, gawker (which I enjoy), as well as headline aggregation, such as drudge and huffingtonpost etc. Little titillations of a lot of things, nothing in depth. No one reads past the second click.
I think print media will end up generational and die with the old folks.
Very hard IMO to get quality, in depth reporting online, but things seem to slowly be getting better. IMO people generally have not yet learned how to identify authoritative and accurate online sources. Thrill and entertainment news just seems to work better on the web, snippets of Jon Stewart, TMZ, radaronline, gawker (which I enjoy), as well as headline aggregation, such as drudge and huffingtonpost etc. Little titillations of a lot of things, nothing in depth. No one reads past the second click.
I think print media will end up generational and die with the old folks.
Very interesting graphic. Note that the general circulation numbers declined quite a bit in the late 80's and through the mid 90s -well before the widespread use of the internet. It appears that something else is happening here.jeff mc wrote:i've heard that, too, but never read any hard data... so, some googling around and ended up at newspaper association of america... circulation data from 2008, starting at 1940four7s wrote:Newspapers are dying?
Yes, I read that in the paper the other day but I just don't believe it.
http://www.naa.org/TrendsandNumbers/Tot ... ation.aspx
but as their data stopped at 2008, i wanted to find 2009. NYT reported year over year total US circulation drop of 9% from '08 to '09, so i added that to the table and charted it. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/27/busin ... audit.html
to answer your (non-rhetorical?) question: that looks like a dying business plan to me. and it's a death spiral. they have fewer paid subscriptions, so less revenue. they get less advertising dollars, so need to cut newsroom staff. revenue falls. eyeballs drop. advertising drops. classified rates drop off a cliff. goodbye, "My hometown chronicle", and hello MyHometownChronicle.com.
changes are coming to the old yellow sheets. in fact, they're here. and i think they'll be accelerating. i think it's sadly ironic that the newspapers are documenting and doing stories on their own demise.
If you adjust the chart by numbers per 100K of population it will nose dive. CNN started in 1980 and cable penetration picked up in the 1980s. People that were raised during that era probably looked at cable TV for news instead of newspapers.Cosmo wrote:Very interesting graphic. Note that the general circulation numbers declined quite a bit in the late 80's and through the mid 90s -well before the widespread use of the internet. It appears that something else is happening here.jeff mc wrote:i've heard that, too, but never read any hard data... so, some googling around and ended up at newspaper association of america... circulation data from 2008, starting at 1940four7s wrote:Newspapers are dying?
Yes, I read that in the paper the other day but I just don't believe it.
http://www.naa.org/TrendsandNumbers/Tot ... ation.aspx
but as their data stopped at 2008, i wanted to find 2009. NYT reported year over year total US circulation drop of 9% from '08 to '09, so i added that to the table and charted it. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/27/busin ... audit.html
to answer your (non-rhetorical?) question: that looks like a dying business plan to me. and it's a death spiral. they have fewer paid subscriptions, so less revenue. they get less advertising dollars, so need to cut newsroom staff. revenue falls. eyeballs drop. advertising drops. classified rates drop off a cliff. goodbye, "My hometown chronicle", and hello MyHometownChronicle.com.
changes are coming to the old yellow sheets. in fact, they're here. and i think they'll be accelerating. i think it's sadly ironic that the newspapers are documenting and doing stories on their own demise.
Paul
The only print news that I subscribe to is The Economist.
Even then, I rarely get around to reading it. But I keep subscribing, because I feel smarter when I read it. Especially because I learn about those strange foreign parts of the world that aren't part of America.
Plus, although they too have a bias, it isn't the standard everybody-follow-the-NY-Times-herd that you get with major US papers. And they don't pretend to be neutral, so they usually tell you when you're getting opinion.
Internet news takes less effort. Plus, nobody bothers me if I scan the online headlines at the office... but if I put my feet up on the desk and grab a paper, I look like a slacker.
Even then, I rarely get around to reading it. But I keep subscribing, because I feel smarter when I read it. Especially because I learn about those strange foreign parts of the world that aren't part of America.
Plus, although they too have a bias, it isn't the standard everybody-follow-the-NY-Times-herd that you get with major US papers. And they don't pretend to be neutral, so they usually tell you when you're getting opinion.
Internet news takes less effort. Plus, nobody bothers me if I scan the online headlines at the office... but if I put my feet up on the desk and grab a paper, I look like a slacker.
-
- Posts: 508
- Joined: Wed Nov 26, 2008 7:52 am
- Location: Hong Kong
- Contact:
My firm subscribes to a number of newspapers. I tend to read the SCMP (the leading local English language paper) and the Financial Times daily if my schedule permits. When I retire, I will probably subscribe to both of these.
I stopped reading the Asian Wall Street Journal years ago - not as interesting as the other two.
The only thing we currently pay for ourselves is the economist.
I stopped reading the Asian Wall Street Journal years ago - not as interesting as the other two.
The only thing we currently pay for ourselves is the economist.
daily paper
I get both the Wall Street Journal and Minneapolis Star Tribune daily.
bj, mn
bj, mn