Do You Subscribe to a Newspaper?

terpkristin · 03-06-2009, 07:58 PM

Local, national, weekly, daily, just some form of a newspaper?

The thread about the Kindle made me think about it, as one of the "advantages" of the Kindle is that you can get newspaper subscriptions on it. I've heard it quoted that if the NY Times gave all their daily subscribers who've subscribed for over 2 years a Kindle and asked them to subscribe via the Kindle, they could cut their production/delivery costs in half.

I don't subscribe to a newspaper right now, though I've thought about it. If I did, it would probably be the Washington Post, Sunday edition only. That way, I could get my coupons for groceries and the full Sunday Source. My favorite part of the newspaper is doing the crossword, which I usually do online. Since NONE of those things can be done on the Kindle, chances are I will not be getting a newspaper subscription on mine when it comes in.

Poll forthcoming.
/tk

Buccaneer · 03-06-2009, 08:04 PM

This is a very relevant question, tk, esp. since our local paper reduced their size by 60-75% just a few weeks ago (except for Sundays). I do read their website frequently but it is sort of a low-budget operation. When all of this was going down, one of the editors chimed in saying that we are in the top 10 most profitable newspaper in the country, esp. when he brought up how much red ink the Denver Post is spilling and how they had to subsidize the Rocky before it went under.

But there are two things that make the subscription worthwhile: crossword puzzle and COMICS. If they are able to link to the daily comics online, then I would stop my paper subscription.

MJ4H · 03-06-2009, 08:05 PM

Newspapers contain nothing interesting to me that I can't or don't get elsewhere in my normal activities.

cartman · 03-06-2009, 08:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Buccaneer

If they are able to link to the daily comics online, then I would stop my paper subscription.

Any of them not found here?

Your favorite comics like Get Fuzzy, Pearls Before Swine, Luann, Frazz, 9 Chickweed Lane and more.

cartman · 03-06-2009, 08:20 PM

Dola,

I subscribe to the paper which is published daily, but I only get the Friday/Saturday/Sunday and holiday editions.

SFL Cat · 03-06-2009, 08:25 PM

Daily subscriber. Goes largely unread most days though.

Buccaneer · 03-06-2009, 08:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cartman

Any of them not found here?

Your favorite comics like Get Fuzzy, Pearls Before Swine, Luann, Frazz, 9 Chickweed Lane and more.

Quite a few. Some of my favorites are there: Pearls, Frazz, Luann, Dilbert, Lola but the ones I also need that are not there include: Zits, Baby Blues, Sally Forth, Sherman's Lagoon, Mother Goose, Non-Sequitor, Baldo and Funky.

gstelmack · 03-06-2009, 08:36 PM

Since my paper is now owned by a distant conglomerate and is actively involved in swaying local politics, a resounding NO!

JonInMiddleGA · 03-06-2009, 08:40 PM

Speaking of this subject, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer will likely be online only sometime in the next couple of weeks. And it's possible the San Francisco Examiner might be in the same boat sooner rather than later.

Media Life - Newspapers

Suburban Rhythm · 03-06-2009, 08:41 PM

Daily. I take the bus into town, so that is what I use to kill the 30-40 min commute. And hopefully keep people from trying to strike up conversations on the bus.

If I leave early for some reason, most time the paper is not there before I leave. And I feel lost on the bus.

Daimyo · 03-06-2009, 08:45 PM

I read the NY Times on my phone daily. I don't think I'll ever subscribe to a paper.

Raiders Army · 03-06-2009, 09:12 PM

We get the weekend and holiday papers. There wasn't an option for that, so I chose weekly.

sabotai · 03-06-2009, 09:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MJ4H

Newspapers contain nothing interesting to me that I can't or don't get elsewhere in my normal activities.

Same here. Plus, I can find much better and more detailed information on what I want by going to websites that specialize in what I'm looking for (space.com, espn.com, etc.).

Izulde · 03-06-2009, 09:26 PM

Sort of yes in that I try to read at least one of the daily newspapers around campus (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Fayetteville Times, USA Today, and /or an abbreviated version of the New York Times).

But most of my news I get from reading CNN.com or FOFC.

FrogMan · 03-06-2009, 09:38 PM

subscribe to a daily local paper, about the only way we get some sort of local news since we don't watch the stupid French Canadian local TV news...

large portions of it go unread on many days though...

Buc, there's an amazing widget you could use with an iGoogle page for comics, it's got Baby Blues, Zits among others that I wasn't able to find on comics.com

I'll try to find a link...

FM

FrogMan · 03-06-2009, 09:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Buccaneer

Quite a few. Some of my favorites are there: Pearls, Frazz, Luann, Dilbert, Lola but the ones I also need that are not there include: Zits, Baby Blues, Sally Forth, Sherman's Lagoon, Mother Goose, Non-Sequitor, Baldo and Funky.

just checked and all these are available with the Custom Comics widget for iGoogle. In all, they say they have 269 comics. I have not counted them.

FM

Buccaneer · 03-06-2009, 09:55 PM

Thanks FM, I''ll check that out.

Buccaneer · 03-06-2009, 09:59 PM

I just asked Mrs. Bucc about canceling the subscription since I may get comics online but 1) she likes her morning routine and 2) she loves the ad inserts, esp. on Sunday. She's good about finding and using sales, promotions and coupons.

FrogMan · 03-06-2009, 10:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Buccaneer

I just asked Mrs. Bucc about canceling the subscription since I may get comics online but 1) she likes her morning routine and 2) she loves the ad inserts, esp. on Sunday. She's good about finding and using sales, promotions and coupons.

see bolded part, same for us. I go through the local sports, read about the local Major Junior hockey team news a bit, skim through the headlines, but most of the times, she'll be the one asking me if I've seen this or that news in the paper later in the evening...

FM

FrogMan · 03-06-2009, 10:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Buccaneer

Thanks FM, I''ll check that out.

it's very well done. I currently have 20 or so comics on my list, including Zits and Baby Blues that you mentioned

FM

Lathum · 03-06-2009, 10:08 PM

I don't subscribe to one but will sometimes pick up a USA today and read it at lunch, the bar, on a plane, etc...

Buccaneer · 03-06-2009, 10:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FrogMan

see bolded part, same for us. I go through the local sports, read about the local Major Junior hockey team news a bit, skim through the headlines, but most of the times, she'll be the one asking me if I've seen this or that news in the paper later in the evening...

FM

My wife does the same thing except that I tell her that I had already that the day before at their online site. She then gives me that look and rolls her eyes.

lungs · 03-06-2009, 10:09 PM

None. Not even my small town paper. The police blotter got too boring as I don't know most of the young kids the police harass these days along with the other local crackheads.

cuervo72 · 03-06-2009, 10:39 PM

My wife subscribes to the Frederick News-Post. We only get a physical paper on Sat/Sun (ostensibly for the coupons...often the papers just seem to sit there if you ask me). She reads the online version - which utilizes some viewer that zooms in on specific stories - pretty much every day. It's a good source of local news that I'm not sure where we'd get elsewhere.

Autumn · 03-06-2009, 10:39 PM

We read a lot of free local papers, and some are fairly good. The local paper wastes too much time trying to be a national paper to be worth the money and I generally read national news online.

ISiddiqui · 03-06-2009, 10:41 PM

No, I read the NY Times (and sometimes the Wash Post) on the internet

SackAttack · 03-06-2009, 10:46 PM

Bucc, there are some newspapers that have their comics online; I know I read Zits online, and the website that has that one also has Sherman's Lagoon and some others.

But the majority of the syndicated strips I read are on comics.com.

AgustusM · 03-07-2009, 12:54 AM

just this week I finally killed my newspaper subscription I have had for my entire adult life.

sure some of it has to do with the news being available on line

a great deal has to do with the news in the printer version was available the day before.

the final nail was how bad the paper had become. Down to just a few pages a section of AP stories or syndicated stories. Very little content from reporters from the actual paper.

I really prefer sitting with the actual paper while I have a cup of coffee and I will miss this - the new paper just wasn't cutting it.

M GO BLUE!!! · 03-07-2009, 05:52 AM

My jobs have always had stacks of papers that I could read if I want to. I have read them less and less in the last few years.

Drake · 03-07-2009, 09:41 AM

I subscribe to our local daily (which literally bills itself as "the smallest daily newspaper in the world"). It's all of 8 pages long and contains nothing but local news. Most of the time, it's the equivalent of the high school newspaper for parents (i.e., school events, sports scores, school business, lunch menus).

What it does for me is provide an aggregate of info I couldn't get easily or reliably online -- not a great number of websites featuring news for my town of 2,000.

I've gradually become convinced that this sort of thing will be the model for successful newspapers in the future -- focusing almost exclusively on local news and events, while leaving national reporting to the interwebs.

Draft Dodger · 03-07-2009, 09:47 AM

I subscribe to our local paper - my wife reads the physical version, I read the online version (free to subscribers). It's really the only way for us to get local news - the one NH TV station we get covers all of NH, so they only cover the big Keene stories, not the smaller - and, IMO, more critical - stories.

AgustusM · 03-07-2009, 02:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Drake

I've gradually become convinced that this sort of thing will be the model for successful newspapers in the future - focusing almost exclusively on local news and events, while leaving national reporting to the interwebs.

I agree - the only reason I stuck with the paper as long as I did was the high school stuff, but even that section has gotten smaller and smaller.

I still get and read the local weekly that is delivered free to every person in town.

lcjjdnh · 03-07-2009, 06:34 PM

Get the Newark Star-Ledger and the Journal delivered. Read the Times and many other papers online. But there's just something about having the print edition of the paper in front of you to scan through that online and the Kindle just can't replicate.

TimGuru · 03-07-2009, 06:48 PM

My wife gets the local New Bedford paper delivered every day, I think for the obits and real estate notices mainly. We also get the Boston Globe weekly (sunday) mainly for the coupons.

Crapshoot · 03-07-2009, 07:27 PM

I like reading a physical newspaper when its there but for the most part, I share the group's belief - most of what I want I can get elsewhere. That being, I enjoy long, drawn out researched articles like you occasionally find in the NYT and WSJ; if it came doing to paying for the content online, I would almost certainly do so.

henry296 · 03-07-2009, 07:48 PM

We get the weekend delivery of our local paper. The savings from coupons more than pays for it.

I do still read the Pittsburgh Post Gazette online to stay up to date on my hometown.

Capital · 03-08-2009, 08:22 AM

I still get the paper only because I like to leave the office for lunch and I like to have something to read. Other than that, I could get by without the paper.

View Poll Results: Do You Subscribe to a Newspaper?
Yes - A weekly paper	6	7.69%
Yes - A daily paper	27	34.62%
No - I read the paper on the internet	33	42.31%
No - I don't read the paper	15	19.23%
TK needs to stop asking questions	2	2.56%
Multiple Choice Poll. Voters: 78. You may not vote on this poll

03-06-2009, 08:20 PM	#5
cartman Death Herald Join Date: Nov 2000 Location: Le stelle la notte sono grandi e luminose nel cuore profondo del Texas	Dola, I subscribe to the paper which is published daily, but I only get the Friday/Saturday/Sunday and holiday editions. __________________ Thinkin' of a master plan 'Cuz ain't nuthin' but sweat inside my hand So I dig into my pocket, all my money is spent So I dig deeper but still comin' up with lint

03-06-2009, 08:36 PM	#8
gstelmack Pro Starter Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Cary, NC	Since my paper is now owned by a distant conglomerate and is actively involved in swaying local politics, a resounding NO! __________________ -- Greg -- Author of various FOF utilities

03-06-2009, 08:40 PM	#9
JonInMiddleGA Hall Of Famer Join Date: Nov 2000 Location: Behind Enemy Lines in Athens, GA	Speaking of this subject, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer will likely be online only sometime in the next couple of weeks. And it's possible the San Francisco Examiner might be in the same boat sooner rather than later. Media Life - Newspapers __________________ "I lit another cigarette. Unless I specifically inform you to the contrary, I am always lighting another cigarette." - from a novel by Martin Amis

03-06-2009, 08:41 PM	#10
Suburban Rhythm Pro Starter Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Pittsburgh	Daily. I take the bus into town, so that is what I use to kill the 30-40 min commute. And hopefully keep people from trying to strike up conversations on the bus. If I leave early for some reason, most time the paper is not there before I leave. And I feel lost on the bus. __________________ "Do you guys play fast tempos with odd time signatures?" "Yeah" "Cool!!"

03-06-2009, 08:04 PM	#2
Buccaneer Head Coach Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Colorado	This is a very relevant question, tk, esp. since our local paper reduced their size by 60-75% just a few weeks ago (except for Sundays). I do read their website frequently but it is sort of a low-budget operation. When all of this was going down, one of the editors chimed in saying that we are in the top 10 most profitable newspaper in the country, esp. when he brought up how much red ink the Denver Post is spilling and how they had to subsidize the Rocky before it went under. But there are two things that make the subscription worthwhile: crossword puzzle and COMICS. If they are able to link to the daily comics online, then I would stop my paper subscription.

03-06-2009, 08:05 PM	#3
MJ4H Coordinator Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Hog Country	Newspapers contain nothing interesting to me that I can't or don't get elsewhere in my normal activities.

03-06-2009, 08:25 PM	#6
SFL Cat College Starter Join Date: Nov 2000 Location: South Florida	Daily subscriber. Goes largely unread most days though.

03-06-2009, 08:45 PM	#11
Daimyo College Starter Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Berkeley	I read the NY Times on my phone daily. I don't think I'll ever subscribe to a paper.

03-06-2009, 09:12 PM	#12
Raiders Army Coordinator Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: The Black Hole	We get the weekend and holiday papers. There wasn't an option for that, so I chose weekly.

03-06-2009, 09:26 PM	#14
Izulde Head Coach Join Date: Sep 2004	Sort of yes in that I try to read at least one of the daily newspapers around campus (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Fayetteville Times, USA Today, and /or an abbreviated version of the New York Times). But most of my news I get from reading CNN.com or FOFC. __________________ 2006 Golden Scribe Nominee 2006 Golden Scribe Winner Best Non-Sport Dynasty: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) Rookie Writer of the Year Dynasty of the Year: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty)

03-06-2009, 09:38 PM	#15
FrogMan Hattrick Moderator Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada	subscribe to a daily local paper, about the only way we get some sort of local news since we don't watch the stupid French Canadian local TV news... large portions of it go unread on many days though... Buc, there's an amazing widget you could use with an iGoogle page for comics, it's got Baby Blues, Zits among others that I wasn't able to find on comics.com I'll try to find a link... FM __________________ A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog...

03-06-2009, 09:55 PM	#17
Buccaneer Head Coach Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Colorado	Thanks FM, I''ll check that out.

03-06-2009, 09:59 PM	#18
Buccaneer Head Coach Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Colorado	I just asked Mrs. Bucc about canceling the subscription since I may get comics online but 1) she likes her morning routine and 2) she loves the ad inserts, esp. on Sunday. She's good about finding and using sales, promotions and coupons.

03-06-2009, 10:08 PM	#21
Lathum Favored Bitch #1 Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: homeless in NJ	I don't subscribe to one but will sometimes pick up a USA today and read it at lunch, the bar, on a plane, etc...

03-06-2009, 10:09 PM	#23
lungs Pro Rookie Join Date: May 2002 Location: Prairie du Sac, WI	None. Not even my small town paper. The police blotter got too boring as I don't know most of the young kids the police harass these days along with the other local crackheads.

03-06-2009, 10:39 PM	#24
cuervo72 Head Coach Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Maryland	My wife subscribes to the Frederick News-Post. We only get a physical paper on Sat/Sun (ostensibly for the coupons...often the papers just seem to sit there if you ask me). She reads the online version - which utilizes some viewer that zooms in on specific stories - pretty much every day. It's a good source of local news that I'm not sure where we'd get elsewhere. __________________ null

03-06-2009, 10:39 PM	#25
Autumn Head Coach Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Bath, ME	We read a lot of free local papers, and some are fairly good. The local paper wastes too much time trying to be a national paper to be worth the money and I generally read national news online.

03-06-2009, 10:41 PM	#26
ISiddiqui Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Decatur, GA	No, I read the NY Times (and sometimes the Wash Post) on the internet __________________ "A prayer for the wild at heart, kept in cages" -Tennessee Williams

03-06-2009, 10:46 PM	#27
SackAttack Head Coach Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Green Bay, WI	Bucc, there are some newspapers that have their comics online; I know I read Zits online, and the website that has that one also has Sherman's Lagoon and some others. But the majority of the syndicated strips I read are on comics.com.

03-07-2009, 12:54 AM	#28
AgustusM College Prospect Join Date: Dec 2003	just this week I finally killed my newspaper subscription I have had for my entire adult life. sure some of it has to do with the news being available on line a great deal has to do with the news in the printer version was available the day before. the final nail was how bad the paper had become. Down to just a few pages a section of AP stories or syndicated stories. Very little content from reporters from the actual paper. I really prefer sitting with the actual paper while I have a cup of coffee and I will miss this - the new paper just wasn't cutting it.

03-07-2009, 05:52 AM	#29
M GO BLUE!!! Pro Starter Join Date: Sep 2005	My jobs have always had stacks of papers that I could read if I want to. I have read them less and less in the last few years.

03-07-2009, 09:41 AM	#30
Drake assmaster Join Date: Feb 2001 Location: Bloomington, IN	I subscribe to our local daily (which literally bills itself as "the smallest daily newspaper in the world"). It's all of 8 pages long and contains nothing but local news. Most of the time, it's the equivalent of the high school newspaper for parents (i.e., school events, sports scores, school business, lunch menus). What it does for me is provide an aggregate of info I couldn't get easily or reliably online -- not a great number of websites featuring news for my town of 2,000. I've gradually become convinced that this sort of thing will be the model for successful newspapers in the future -- focusing almost exclusively on local news and events, while leaving national reporting to the interwebs.

03-07-2009, 09:47 AM	#31
Draft Dodger Coordinator Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Keene, NH	I subscribe to our local paper - my wife reads the physical version, I read the online version (free to subscribers). It's really the only way for us to get local news - the one NH TV station we get covers all of NH, so they only cover the big Keene stories, not the smaller - and, IMO, more critical - stories. __________________ Mile High Hockey

03-07-2009, 06:34 PM	#33
lcjjdnh College Prospect Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: NJ	Get the Newark Star-Ledger and the Journal delivered. Read the Times and many other papers online. But there's just something about having the print edition of the paper in front of you to scan through that online and the Kindle just can't replicate.

03-07-2009, 06:48 PM	#34
TimGuru High School Varsity Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Cape Cod, MA	My wife gets the local New Bedford paper delivered every day, I think for the obits and real estate notices mainly. We also get the Boston Globe weekly (sunday) mainly for the coupons. __________________ FOOL: NY Panthers1974-88 ; Hyannis Patriots 2037-2055 hiatus FOOL-H: NY YANKEES 1903- FOOL-X: Cumberland Defenders 1985-

03-07-2009, 07:27 PM	#35
Crapshoot Grizzled Veteran Join Date: Dec 2003	I like reading a physical newspaper when its there but for the most part, I share the group's belief - most of what I want I can get elsewhere. That being, I enjoy long, drawn out researched articles like you occasionally find in the NYT and WSJ; if it came doing to paying for the content online, I would almost certainly do so.

03-07-2009, 07:48 PM	#36
henry296 College Starter Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Pittsburgh, PA	We get the weekend delivery of our local paper. The savings from coupons more than pays for it. I do still read the Pittsburgh Post Gazette online to stay up to date on my hometown. __________________ "It's a great day for hockey" - "Badger" Bob Johnson

03-08-2009, 08:22 AM	#37
Capital High School Varsity Join Date: Oct 2000	I still get the paper only because I like to leave the office for lunch and I like to have something to read. Other than that, I could get by without the paper.

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