On Publishing

Recently I've noticed a disturbing tendency around our house.

It's the newspaper -- the print version, the one the paper-person delivers to our house every morning, sometimes in the yard, sometimes in the flower bed, sometimes, even, neatly wrapped and placed symmetrically on the doorstep.

We bring it into the house, undo it from the rubber band or plastic wrapper, and bring it into the living room with our morning coffee. We put it on the coffee table, settle in, and open our computers.

We're a household of nerds. My husband has a tablet, while I still have a laptop. Sometimes we trade off, but it doesn't really matter, because we are both reading the news, but we are reading it online, even while the printed newspaper sits right there on the coffee table.

After a few minutes, one of us goes offline and picks up the paper, peruses it, finishes the coffee in our cup. Sometimes we even read an item or two out loud. Then we put the paper down, and go back online.

Why?

It occurred to me that our daily newspaper is much smaller than it used to be -- smaller in a physical sense, as the actual pages themselves seem to have shrunk, and smaller in the number of pages and sections. Smaller, too, in what is covered, in the scope of what newsprints brings into our range of awareness.

There used to be whole sections devoted to "Home and Garden," where we could read about what's new in housekeeping, in yard care, in home maintenance, in decorating trends. There were whole sections devoted to food and shopping, and frequent articles about child care and family life. Some were locally written, others by regional or national columnists with impressive credentials.

We could find pieces about local houses of architectural or historical interest. We could see photographs of local gardens, read about people who knew how to do things like upholstery, or wallpapering, or laying tile.

There used to be sections about "Business" that covered local business news as well as national and international business stories, and didn't just replay stories we saw online yesterday. There were travel features, in-depth analyses of world news, and a selection of opinion pieces that offered differing viewpoints about current events.

There were local interest stories that didn't fit into any specific categories, but that informed us of what friends and neighbors were doing. 

I miss those things. Their absence is what keeps me from spending much time with newsprint these days -- our local paper tries to keep those kinds of stories alive, but staff and budget cuts make it more and more difficult for them to offer them. And diminishing subscriptions in turn make it more difficult to maintain staff and budgets that allow for creativity and  excellence.

What would draw me back to newsprint? Or is it becoming obsolete as we all move to different sources of information and entertainment?

What would draw you?

One More Way Things Are Changing

Here's one way I know things are changing: the first thing I reach for in the morning these days is often my laptop, not the newspaper on the front porch.
I love print newspapers. I like the feel of them, and I like that moment when I first shake one open and look to see what's happened while I wasn't looking. It feels luxurious, that settling down with a cup of coffee and something to read.
But more and more that something to read is on my laptop, whether it's an online newspaper (I can find out what's happening almost anywhere in a matter of moments) or my favorite blogs or an e-zine.
I don't want to lose print newspapers or magazines. There is something satisfying about holding something in my hand, or tucking it under my arm or in my purse and taking it with me when I have early morning appointments. My laptop doesn't quite do that for me.
My laptop is somewhat portable, but not as comfortable under my arm, and there's something quite literal about the idea of connecting -- if you can't get a connection you won't connect.
The growing importance of online news, information, and entertainment seems to shove out the old ways of getting those things.
Surely there's room for both in the world!

Finding the News . . .

Our local newspapers seem to be getting thinner. Recently several papers in our region were bought out by a company that, until then, mostly published local shoppers – those small papers consisting of local ads with a little bit of wire-service content.

There is now more “local content” - that is, whatever photographs or stories readers send in. This makes these papers less professional, often less insightful. Excellence is now hit or miss. I miss a variety of thoughtful editorial comment. That space, more and more, is given over to internet commenters, many of whom seem to be the same people, many of whom have favorite complaining refrains.

I miss in-depth reporting of national and international news, even if some of it comes from the wire services. The busier I get the more I want to have access to that news, altogether, at the beginning of my day, in a quiet newspaper. Radio – that is, National Public Radio – is my other best option. Unlike the television or radio, though, the only noise my newspaper makes is the rustle of the pages as I turn them. It's a more gracious way to start the day!

And I'm tired of hearing about Brittney Spears and Lindsey Lohan on television news. We have dial-up internet, which makes it frustrating to get news on the 'net.

How about you? Do you still enjoy reading a newspaper? Or are you content with network news, NPR, or the 'net?