Autumn

Autumn

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Our Newspapers

Are fast disappearing. I find this disturbing news, sad. My daily paper had a short story in the money section with the news the old Times-Picayune has laid off two hundred workers. The paper will only publish three times a week. What a shame.


My morning routine as always consisted of a good cup of coffee and a print edition of our local paper. To read the paper on-line just isn't the same. I like the feel of paper, the sweet smell of ink. Though our paper is as thin as a human hair I still enjoy news I can set aside and return to after a few minutes out on the floor of the shop. I even take the comics home to my wife.


I guess it bugs me because its another piece of our history and childhood slowly fading into the mist of time. Newspapers have been a part of my life. It wasn't all that long ago I read three different papers a day, then Sweet Wife put her foot down and said enough, cost, you know. I still sneak a Wall Street Journal home time to time.

I feel sorry for New Orleans.

Stephen

25 comments:

  1. I feel sorry for the Picayune, too. What a part of history that paper has been. : (

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    1. And that's the point, my dear friend. History, lost. Thank you.

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  2. Yeah, but judging from the content in my local paper, it's pretty much self inflicted. Hard for me to be too sentimental when there's only out-of-date drivel to be sentimental about.

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    1. It's not the content, or todays current events, I will miss when newspaper are gone...it's the history. My favorite day is Sunday. Sunday mornings of quiet time with my newspaper and coffee...Then again, I'm a middle aged man and I understand how the whipper snappers love their digital print. Thanks, my friend.

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  3. Sorry Stephen, I really have never liked newspapers, the ink - ick, the clutter - ugh. I really hate them now that I am doing cleaning over at my mom's house. Stepfather just drops papers wherever. He's a slob and his hoard of printed materials only makes it worse. About the only use I have for the local paper is as a drop cloth when painting, staining, or doing other messy work. Their grammar and spelling are deplorable, and their liberal bent is nauseating.

    The temporal nature of online news suits me just fine, because it is one less thing to pick up.

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    1. Thanks, Mrs. S., what in media isn't liberal in nature these days...

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  4. I like to read newspapers but I stopped taking ours a couple of years ago because it got worse and worse. I think big papers may stay around for a while however when our generation goes so will the small local papers. The young people get all their info from the internet and lets face it by the time the paper is printed it is yesterdays news.

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    1. Yeap, Bubba, young people seem to have a way of changing the nature of things, don't they...thanks.

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  5. Our local paper is down to only six pages on most weekday editions. They have the most expensive advertising rates in town, apparently never having noticed the correlation between jacking up the rates vs. falling revenue.

    It's only a matter of time before they begin publishing only 2 or 3 times per week. Most of the staff was let go a few years back; the fat lady is warming up.

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    1. Shame, isn't it, Rev....but, I'll ride it to the end.

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    2. Yes, it's an awful shame but they have destroyed themselves, along with the Internet. I'll ride my paper till the end, and then weep for what we've lost.

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  6. We dropped ours as well. The content had truly diminished, editing was horrible, and I know it sounds stupid but with the technology of today, I expect that words actually be spelled correctly. Heavy sigh. My alternative? My own website with links to "My Daily Read". It seems to fill my need for data quite nicely.

    But, I do hear you sir – there is something about the touch and feel of paper, whether in a newspaper, magazine or good book. Yet, I suspect they are not long for this world.

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    1. I agree, my friend. My world has changed enough and I'm sick of it. Thanks, Bubba. Guess I should find one of those links.

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  7. I miss the "Saturday Evening Post / Norman Rockwell" feel that comes to mind when thinking about a daily paper.

    But anymore, it's just an avenue to get coupons every Sunday. For that reason, I think papers will be around for a long time.

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    1. I hope so, Matt, and I'm old enough to remember the Saturday Evening Post. Thanks, Bubba.

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  8. Oh honey, we feel the same way. It HAS to have something to do with us old-timers getting fewer and fewer and our 'replacements' are NON readers except for the internet.

    I've even noticed that our grandchildren aren't even being taught cursive writing and their spelling is atrocious.....yet they are on the HONOR ROLL????? How?

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    1. My dear, let's face facts...this isn't the same country in which we were born. Kids fail a test nowadays and the state just lowers the bar for them. I know grown men that can't read. God help us. Thanks, my dear friend.

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  9. Yesterdays news today. This used to be valuable so you knew what was going on. The local community based papers tell me what's going on around the close area, the metro paper tells me what I already read online or heard on the BBC.
    We have an edition here on Sunday that is really just a wrap for coupons but it's the highest subscription base.

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  10. Phyllis (N/W Jersey)June 13, 2012 at 1:04 PM

    Newspapers - ah, love them, but sadly we really don't need them anymore for national & world news. I buy our area paper for the local politics, happenings and of course, the obits.
    It's a very small paper printed M-F and Sunday. I remember growing up in Paterson, the three papers would print morning, afternoon and evening editions. I saved them all when we landed on the moon & when JFK was killed.
    You're right, nothing like sitting down at breakfast with the papers and a good cuppa coffee. Some habits are just too hard for us old timers to break.

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    1. I too remember when we had two papers, a morning and evening edition. I always like the evening paper the best. My mornings just would not be the same without my paper and coffee. Coffee and the net just wouldn't cut it. Thanks, dear Phyllis.

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  11. As a child, I use to color in the funnies. We use to make paper hats. And, a news paper was the best for making, or repairing kites. We use to get fish wrapped in newspaper. It was also used to cover the kitchen table, for Easter egg decorating, and when we made home made sausage.
    Plus, I remember going to the newspaper office, and taking a tour. Oh the smell of the ink, and paper. I loved it.

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    1. Great memories. I'll miss them. Thanks, my friend.

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  12. Papers have gone from seeking out news to printing press releases. Few have enough staff these days to do anything.

    I do enjoy my local free paper -it's worth the price and good for lighting the woodstove.

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    1. I save a few days worth in the Fall to light my fires too. Thanks, my friend.

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