Anyone still read newspapers?

[Greg Peterson]

The Kindle is cool, but primitive in many ways, namely size and weight, but I think anyone using it will immediately understand the direction media is going.

Sony has already developed a plastic film or sheet that can display text and images. Once the scale of economy kicks in newsprint will go the way of the dodo bird. People will still pay for a subscription, but they will 'read' the newspaper off the plastic sheet.

Eventually it will become practical to subscribe to several newspapers and carry them with you everywhere. Try carrying the NY Times and WSJ onto a bus or subway today.

News will become portable and even more immediate in the future. At least that is my prediction.

[John Shuk]

Pretty much every day.

[Jude Tuliszewski]

I get the paper every day. I guess I am getting old, as I still like relaxing with the paper instead of a puter screen.

[Scott Vigder]

I get it every day, I read it, I do the crossword, and I'm going to miss it when it's gone!

[Ted Calver]

I read 2 papers--the Daily Press and the Williamsburg Gazette--primarily for news affecting area development. The papers still provide the best source of information on local government and the corresponding activities of special interest groups. Local/regional entertainment, news and coverage of local sports keep these papers alive, although the Daily press is seriously shrinking and trying all sorts of format changes in a effort to boost circulation. SWMBO only looks at them for sales and coupons and recently started getting that same information on-line. A significant portion of the Williamsburg population is over 55 and accustomed to paper reading as part of lifes rituals, so the Gazette seems strong for the near term....time will tell.

[Paul Ryan]

Its not the same reading news from some stupid electronic device. I'm not that old yet only in my earlier 30's but grew up reading the news paper and watching the 10 pm news. Usually lots of the same stuff. But the news paper has so many smaller tid bits that the television version doesn't have time for. As for as internet news, that is for the birds. Personally I really don't care about the vandalizm spree that has went on in FL for 2 weeks, or the wildfires in NM, I want local news. What is going one with the high school football teams, just plain local news. The 5:30 national news on tv is fine and that is what the internet is for, to find out what good and bad things the president is doing, or what poor pakistani's got bomed today. And it is real uncomfortable sitting on the porcelin throne with the laptop on your lap, a newspaper is much easier to multitask with. I hope my local papers stay in businees for ever, but I am afraid they wont.

[keith ouellette]

I know the NY times wasn't doing great even before the economy went south. They were laying people off in the beginning of 08 and even in 07. A lot of papers have the same problem. They are to involved in opinion and not printing news. We have a friend that went out of town and we would look in on his house. He was very busy and hadn't got around to reading 50 or sixty of his new york times but kept them all right next to his reading chair.

we were there right around the time of the abu ghriab mess. I sat down and looked at some head lines. One after another the front page had headlines about abu ghraib. Over and over again without there being any new information. It was senseless.

My brother in law tells me he looks at the difference between what is printed in the Boston Globe and what the associated press actually says and tells me the difference in wording is often startling (the the globe and most other papers quote from the associated press I'm sure most of you know that).

I can't help but think shoddy reporting has a lot to do with it.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Hello,
Nope - just the Sunday flyers.

Too little news/too much controversy.

"Dog bits man isn't news. Man bites dog is news." <-that seems to be the current trend in reporting these days. Go for the controversy to increase circulation to increase sales of advertising space.

[Pat Germain]

I used to be a big fan of reading the newspaper every day. I read the Peninsula Daily Press when I lived in Virginia. They printed many a letter to the editor from me.

When I first moved to Colorado Springs, I read the Gazette every day. Then it started to get watered down like every other paper. I had delivery problems because, these days, many of the people who deliver newspapers seem to be on the fringes of society and will suddenly disappear when they move on elsewhere. And I can't subscribe to just Sunday or just Saturday and Sunday. It's every day or Friday through Sunday; too much money for too little value.

It is really sad what's happened to journalism. Indeed, the idea of investigative reporting is almost gone. It seems almost every article is just tabloid junk or a thinly veiled advertisement. Something big can happen in my back yard and the story in the local paper is from the AP news wire.

[Rod Sheridan]

I read the paper every day.

I also read some online material.

My oldest daughter is sports editor for a large online news service. She has a degree in journalism, yet the service does no investigative reporting.

Everything is edited copy from some other source, aside from editorial content, which is probably based on content read on line.

When I express my dislike of regurgitated material, as opposed to peer reviewed, well researched articles, she looks at me over her glasses and says something to the effect of " Oh Dad, nobody has the time or money to do that anymore. It's not about reporting or investigating, it's about keeping as many of those advertising dollars as we can."

So I guess as time progresses, we'll get less and less solid, peer reviewed material, and more and more crap similar to what's available on the internet.

You know, the internet, where someone as clueless as me can suddenly have many people reading my poorly written drivel.

Regards, Rod.

[Chris Padilla]

Eh? Did you say something, Rod?

[Joe Pelonio]

Here's a related interesting tidbit.

While installing signs in a Seattle office tower, I found that there is still a "press clipping" business, that has been around for over 100 years. (but I imaging the papers closing will affect them greatly) I spoke to them about the internet. Most people getting news from the internet, such as TV, radio, newspaper or press service websites do not realize that they have terms and conditions and copyright statements that essentially make it illegal to print off their content or cut/paste into other documents or e-mail. When you buy a newspaper, you own it.

That means that many companies and politicians who have their staffs look for articles about themselves on internet news websites then print it off or copy/paste and e-mail are doing it illegally.

[Rod Sheridan]

Eh? Did you say something, Rod?

Nope, just the usual drivel.

[Greg Peterson]

I use to be hooked on reading the newspaper. But between the radio and internet, newspapers are a least a day behind the news these days. I think the Kindle is a significant step forward in news distribution. In a few short years we may all be carrying a plastic sheet of newsprint getting news updates from various newspapers throughout the day. The technology exists, just a matter of scale of economy at this point.

Of course what qualifies as news will generate a diverse range of responses and I'm not so sure this hasn't always been the case. Objective reporting is the goal, but virtually impossible to achieve. There are numerous examples of stories that didn't get printed initially that later went on to become major stories. Or what one thinks should be a major story gets relegated to a couple of paragraphs deep inside the paper where many people will never see it. As for bias, or perceived bias, perhaps what doesn't get published is as instructive as what does get published.

[Harry Hagan]

Over twelve years ago I stopped supporting the extremely liberally biased rag that the Gannett Co., Inc. publishes under the guise of the formerly great Louisville Courier-Journal. I have an online subscription to my hometown newspaper that truly takes a balanced approach to news reporting while local TV broadcasts and websites keep me informed on what’s going on around town.