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davidschrothThat's the headline on an article in one of the local wanna-be newspaper replacements, MinnPost.
The author is both right and wrong - I *do* miss the newspapers, but they've been gone a long time. And I didn't leave the newspapers, the newspapers left me.
Given my druthers, I prefer holding the daily fishwrap in my hands to dealing with inevitably clunky online interfaces that get in the way of my reading. It's a habit, I suppose - a habit of very long standing. I started reading the newspaper - every day - shortly after I learned to read. Which puts it in the late 50s. And once I started reading newspapers, I continued the habit. Somewhere along the way, I picked up the habit of reading new magazines as well.
But eventually, something changed. Probably in the 90s, although I'm sure I can't fix the date very well. It started with the news magazines - they stopped focusing on news. As time went on, they had more and more filler, and less news. Eventually, I stopped reading them - first Newsweek, and then Time.
But the newspaper was still good. For a while, anyway. But then whatever it was that infected the news magazines infected the local newspaper, as well. It went from pretty good to dreck. Same symptoms - more filler, less news. And at the same time the newspaper seemed to be giving up on news, I found that one could actually get news - online - and usually several weeks before the Main Stream Media bothered to report it.
So yeah, I miss the newspapers now that they're gone. But they've been gone for years now. And I didn't leave the newspapers - they left me.
The author is both right and wrong - I *do* miss the newspapers, but they've been gone a long time. And I didn't leave the newspapers, the newspapers left me.
Given my druthers, I prefer holding the daily fishwrap in my hands to dealing with inevitably clunky online interfaces that get in the way of my reading. It's a habit, I suppose - a habit of very long standing. I started reading the newspaper - every day - shortly after I learned to read. Which puts it in the late 50s. And once I started reading newspapers, I continued the habit. Somewhere along the way, I picked up the habit of reading new magazines as well.
But eventually, something changed. Probably in the 90s, although I'm sure I can't fix the date very well. It started with the news magazines - they stopped focusing on news. As time went on, they had more and more filler, and less news. Eventually, I stopped reading them - first Newsweek, and then Time.
But the newspaper was still good. For a while, anyway. But then whatever it was that infected the news magazines infected the local newspaper, as well. It went from pretty good to dreck. Same symptoms - more filler, less news. And at the same time the newspaper seemed to be giving up on news, I found that one could actually get news - online - and usually several weeks before the Main Stream Media bothered to report it.
So yeah, I miss the newspapers now that they're gone. But they've been gone for years now. And I didn't leave the newspapers - they left me.
