[Programmist]

I'm a software developer in a technology group that supports several newspapers and television stations around the country. I knew coming in that the newspaper side of the business would be a potential risk, but I like a challenge. As most of you knew, newspapers around the country have been really suffering in the past 10 years or so since Internet usage shot up. I remember my father reading the paper before work every morning. I was never a big newspaper reader (time being the main factor), but I usually read the Sunday edition. But, from what I can tell, most people my age and younger just don't read the paper anymore - not even the online edition. I can think of many reasons why that might be so, but the purpose of this post is to gather information. I'm curious how many of you read the paper and what your age (and location/gender if you don't mind providing that info). I'm also curious where you get your news, or if you read/watch news at all. Obviously there are many sources of national/international news, but what about local news? Also, if you are turned off by local newspapers and/or their web sites, what would you like to see that would make it worth paying for? So, if you are interested in helping me with this informal survey I'd appreciate it if you'd fill out the poll and post any additional details about your reasoning. I want to stress that this is an informal poll by myself for personal benefit and not related to the company I work for. I'm sure they've done all kinds of more formal surveys already. It's prompted by the announcement of lay-offs in two of our newspapers today, which got me to wondering if the newspapers had a future and, if so, what is it.

Thanks.

[baavgai]

Wait, there are still hard copy newspapers? I did seriously consider choosing slashdot. I minored in journalism in college, so you's think I'd have some use for the the things. Also minored in philosophy, so maybe not.

The ritual of the morning paper evokes Rockwellian imagery of the hard working fatherly pointedly ignoring the family that the little woman is taking care of. It really seemed like a relic of a bygone age long before the Internet made it irrelevant. Also, the nature of what is considered "news" seems to have changed drastically.

Believe it or not, the classic reporter who idolized Edward R. Murrow followed a fairly rigid code of ethics. Reporting news with personal bias or sensationalism was seen as failure. Much of what's called news now is really what's properly known as editorializing. Basically, it's blogs.

There was once a time where the popular media may have been trusted as a source of information, but I don't believe that's still the case. In the US, the the current political climate has shown how reliable the press is to anyone paying attention. For younger folks, the newspaper must seem as quaint as rotary dial telephone.

By curious coincidence, this was my google quote today: People everywhere confuse what they read in newspapers with news. - AJ Liebling

[Programmist]

Thank you for the informative editorial. What I'm more interested in, however, is why you the potential reader are disinterested in newspapers or newspaper web sites. I suppose I should be grateful anyone responded at all given the ratio of views to polls filled out.

[baavgai]

Programmist, on 28 Jul, 2008 - 02:03 PM, said:

why you the potential reader are disinterested in newspapers or newspaper web sites.

Ah, I'm afraid my answer is not that telling. You really want to former newspaper reader. I never bothered with the paper. I don't watch the eventing news, either. News, for the most part, is noise. Ideally the news of the day should make people feel connected, part of a shared experience. I always felt it basically failed in that respect and in some sense had the opposite effect.

The internet does a better job making people feel part of a community, by offering such a broad range of choice that anyone can find their people. And even interact with those people, to an extent that they control.

[Programmist]

baavgai, on 28 Jul, 2008 - 11:50 AM, said:

Ah, I'm afraid my answer is not that telling. You really want to former newspaper reader.

I thought that's what I asked for in my post.

I don't watch news either. I have tended to have a "believe half of what you see and none of what you hear/read." This is even more true on internet sites, however, where just about anyone can post just about anything and call it news if they like.

But, I already know how I feel about it. I'm hoping more people who responded to the poll questions marked "(please explain)" will explain their answers. Otherwise the answers are useless to me.

[NickDMax]

M/PA

Don't really read the paper. I get my news mostly from random things on the web that catch my eye or from the boob-tube.

I do like magazines -- though I would not really call this a news source though.

[fountainoftruth]

I've tried reading a hard copy of the newspaper before, but I never could get into it. The internet is much easier for finding news that interests me. For the most part, picking up a newspaper involves turning pages, scanning and hoping I find something that interests me.

On the computer, I can browse more headlines than I could possibly see in a hard copy of the newspaper and find something that I want to read.

As for whether or not I read the local newspaper's website, the answer is no. I don't think I've ever gone to their website. Anytime I've picked up a copy of their newspaper, I haven't found anything that "wowed" me which leads me to believe that the website won't do it either.

[Ellie]

If I'm on the tube then I read the free London newspapers that get handed out, and left in mounds on the trains everyday, but whether they are actually news is another matter really, they're a bit...gossipy (I guess a free paper is going to be like that). I read news online, sometimes at the websites of the 'proper' English newspapers like the Guardian, Telegraph etc and the BBC news website is pretty good.

I have a Private Eye subscription.

I don't have a TV, so those are the only way I know what the hell is going on (other than short radio news clips). I have never read hard copy newspapers except maybe when I was a kid and I delivered them, I used to skim read on the way.

[Tom9729]

I like reading the comments on Slashdot honestly.

For world news I watch BBC (or read their website).

I read the paper sometimes, it's usually garbage though.

[P4L]

I used to read the newspaper, but as time went on, I was un-able to either purchase the subscriptions, or just lost interest in it. I also used to watch the news on tv, both local and national, but sadly, that too has faded. Now, I look it up on the net. wjz.com, wbaltv.com, and cnn.com are what I read. When the weekends hit, I lose the news altogether since I am unplugged from Friday night till Sunday.

[BetaWar]

I used to readd the sunday paper ads and comics, but since we stopped getting the paper I haven't been reading it.

Most of the time I either get my news from google news or from sites like this.

[OliveOyl3471]

I only read the newspaper occasionally, and never the entire thing. We don't have a subscription (waste of money I think) so if we want to read the paper we just buy a copy. The most interesting part of the newspaper for me has always been the comics and crossword puzzle section. Sometimes I read the obituaries.

Since I'm online every day, I see headlines on the home page. If they appear interesting I click on them. This is much easier than going out and buying a paper (lazy me) and much faster, besides it's free. We do pay for Internet service of course, but we would do that anyway.

I don't like to watch the news because most of the time it's bad news. Happy stories usually are not as interesting as sad ones, so that's what usually gets reported. It doesn't help the victims of whatever is being reported if I know about it, but it makes me feel awful. Why should I feel awful for nothing? If I could help them, that would make my knowing about their tragedy worthwhile, but most of the time I can't so it's not.

I do still like tv news in the mornings because they report traffic accidents, and in bad weather we make sure to keep the news on, since we live in tornado alley.

[capty99]

i'm in the magazine business... which is dying also. it seems the big ones might have a chance but the smaller ones are getting weeded out.

[RodgerB]

I used to read the paper but find little time for it, and the news is always on TV when I wake up. I did use to view the newspaper's website, but that was only if I was really bored.

[thepeon]

I get most of my news from Google News, so it comes from all over the place. I stopped reading the Hard newspaper when i realized how many more sides to the story you get when you can read 3-4 related stories from different papers. I also take everything with a grain of salt. I volunteer with a emergency response organization and have been on news worthy incident scenes and sometimes I don't know where the papers are getting their info from because it's so far off from the truth.