Paper Burns

[Hemingway Jones]

This is a big part of why I'll keep reading newspapers until there simply aren't any left. You can't -- comfortably at least -- read a computer at the breakfast table. And you definitely can't read a computer in the bathtub.

If all the analysts are correct, you have about 5 years to enjoy those newspapers. After that, it will be on-line only. Personally, I think the Sunday papers will continue a bit longer, if the companies are surviving on other footing. These are all big "ifs!"

Craigs List has eviscerated the classified postings, and on-line services beat the print media to the punch on content. The online NY Times scoops itself!

In five years, I imagine we’ll be reading the paper on a Kindle or some other such device, for better or worse.

It's a brave new world.

 

[RondoHatton]

"Paper burns"... gosh, that's clever

And computers burn too.
Bet they consume more resources.
And are not cheap enough to wrap fish with or put in the bottom of the parakeet cage.
You can't fold a boat, plane or hat out of a computer.
Brave new world?
A warning, dark novel about hell come to life.
How many of you want to live there?
I don't.

 

[LizzieMaine]

And computers burn too.
Bet they consume more resources.
And are not cheap enough to wrap fish with or put in the bottom of the parakeet cage.
You can't fold a boat, plane or hat out of a computer.
Brave new world?
A warning, dark novel about hell come to life.
How many of you want to live there?
I don't.

Hear, hear. Call me a Luddite, but even technological inconveniences aside, there's something much more satisfying about the experience of print. I like to be able to open up the pages and be able to see the whole scope of the layout -- to be able to flick my eyes across the pages and read any story I want without fussing with links or waiting for pages to load (I don't have a very fast connection here in the New England wilderness.) Online *just isn't as satisfying.*

Besides, I just thought of another disadvantage. You can't swat flies with a computer. Well, you can, but it gets wicked expensive.

 

[John in Covina]

Personally, I find that reading from a computer screen is not as comfortable as the printed page.

Newspapers give you a special link to the locale also. The scan of the front page of each section gives a quick overview of the contents and the ads or included circulars have their own flare.

 

[John in Covina]

Thru Osmosis.

A favorite NYC newspaper reflection.

A friend told me he was riding on the subway and across from him was a guy sitting on a newspaper. A nearby gentleman wanted to look at the paper and politely asked the guy sitting on the paper:
"Are reading that paper?"
:eusa_doh:

 

[David Conwill]

I get most of my regional and national news via radio, relying on newspapers only to bring me very local information. Unfortunately, therein lies the problem: I don't want to buy a localized version of USA Today just to get the ten or so local stories they include, so I've let my subscription to the Muskegon Chronicle lapse. If one existed, I would subscribe to a truly local newspaper (like my hometown's paper - the White Lake Beacon), because there's no such thing as a comprehensive and effective "Muskegon blog."

With regard to the New York Times - I was under the impression that their print edition was one of the few (perhaps the only?) profitable print paper in the country. This based on an interview with their Editor-in-Chief I heard... on the radio.

-Dave

 

[Parallel Guy]

I love the newspaper, too, but have watched the Seattle Times slowly die and am beginning to see it like an athlete that has stayed too long in the field. It has become tired and watching it fail more often than succeed is sad. I recently re-upped my subscription but only because the comics is the one thing online can't replicate as well, yet.

I will miss the newspaper when it stops, but I can't regret the advantages of the internet.

 

[katiemakeup]

I'm not convinced that newspapers will die off in a number of years... will that lead to other periodicals as well? They are too strong in numbers, despite the folding of many titles the past few years.

I love a good newspaper.

 

[olive bleu]

I had given up getting a daily paper for several years, untill recently. One of my kids, now in junior high, has to submit a weekly article on current events, along with newspaper clippings.I imagined papers piling up around the house everywhere, with me fighting an uphill battle to keep up with the recycling.This is happening of course, but there's been a suprising outcome.My
2 teenagers are reading!The older one especially, has never been a reader but is actually going outside some mornings to pick it up and will sit and read it over breakfast.Neither of them would dream of reading the news online , and will only watch the news if there is something major going on( ie;recent u.s. election ) It is worth the cost of a daily newspaper to give them something they are interested in discussing at the dinner table.

 

[John in Covina]

I will read the newspaper during lunch, at the workplace. Many places where I have worked would get the paper and it would wind up in the lunch room.

While a lot of people would tussle over the sports section, I would flip thru the rest of the paper.

 

[katiemakeup]

Interesting in-depth article about the if's/when's of the NYT elimination.

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200901/new-york-times

 

[kiltie]

I've noticed two things since seeing this thread:

1.) Everyone I know reads the paper ( and I mean READS the paper ).
2.) I can't find a newspaper vending machine for beans anymore.

How does that add up? The thing that irritates me most about it is, when having lunch alone at a diner or fast-food, I always used to buy the paper on the way in to do the crosswords or skim the Metro. Now all I get ( if I'm lucky ) are the yellow journalism, scandal rag, communist propaganda, toilet paper, local and regional tabs ( San Antonio Current, Austin Chronicle, and so on ), and often those are only to be found in drinking establishments and record shops.
At least I'm up on the police hating smut mongers and the local music scene ( the latter actually being a PRIME benefit ).