We get the NYT on F/S/S in the paper version which means we can read the rest of the week online. The decimated their local news section years ago. They used to review art shows and restaurants and cover doings in the suburbs. Not any more.
You’d think this might have made the local paper pick up the slack, but it’s no better. The Monday paper has one section that includes sports and the comics. Tuesday has sports in a separate section. Wednesday they give us food related stuff. Thursday is a weird section that just reprints old stories. Friday a decent section with movie reviews and local listings. Saturday is real estate section. Sunday has a bunch of stuff. There quite a bit more on line. I never look, but dh reads it.
We had been loyal, 7d/wk paper delivery customers for about 35 years. But the delivery had become so dreadful, with missed papers especially alternatively when they continued to deliver when we put in vacation holds, that it became unbearable. So we cancelled early last spring, also because the renewal price was too high. They continued to deliver it for weeks and weeks, but finally after their constant calling to get us to renew, it ultimately stopped in the early summer, IIRC. Well, this Dec they had an offer we thought was reasonable, so we decided to give them another chance. Big mistake. Continued delivery problems, and because I won’t give them a cr card (dont want to risk an auto renew at a price I won’t pay) I sent in the renewal with a check. They cant find it. Apparently their promotions dept moved its offices within the building and the payment is lost somewhere. Oh, and they again delivered (after 10 days of no delivery) when we put in the vacation hold. AAGGGGHH!
Used to get LA Times and local newspaper everyday. Increased prices, decreased deliver plus no local news led us to finally drop. I have an online of Press Enterprise from Groupon but frankly get more local news from a crazy guy Facebook page in a neighboring city.
At the peak craziness of parenthood, too many days went by with us not opening the paper. I couldn’t handle the wastefulness of it and unsubscribed. As soon as it was an option, we went digital but the SF Chronicle isn’t really a great paper. Once 2016 hit, I subscribed to the NYT digital version. I did miss local news. Just saw an ad for a $10/year digital subscription to the San Jose Mercury News which we’ve never received but, for that price, it was worth it. And dh told me their sports section is good. The subscription just started yesterday so it’s too new to know how we’ll like it.
While I get enjoying having a hard copy of the paper in hand, I see the other side of it too: the resources involved with producing and delivering it, the limits on how much papers have to spend on quality journalism and then the actual paper itself and where it ends up after people are done with it.
Getting smaller all the time. We used to have competing major papers (Tampa Trib and St Pete Times) . We got both. One had a great local sports section, the other better national news coverage. They merged a few years back. Year by year they seem to compress the sections. I can’t imagine they’ll be printing this paper in several years.
Too bad as I love the morning ritual of reading the paper (actual paper, not computer) while sipping strong coffee. I get up 30 minutes earlier than everyone else just for that.
I have digital subscriptions to the NY Times as well as local paper. Our small but educated city used to have 2 papers, morning and evening. The evening one persists as a weekly free paper with excellent writing. The morning delivered print paper shrinks all the time, but does cover the city not badly. Perhaps in retirement I will get print copies of the NY Times again as I find far more of interest paging through the thing than clicking on the website.
For most of my life I have appreciated the alternative news weeklies, for sometimes in depth reporting on local issues as well as restaurant reviews and cultural listings. Our local one still has good articles but it seems they are having a bit of trouble appealing to the younger demographic and it is a bit skinny at times. Passing through Phoenix, where I lived in my 20s, I am glad to see the New Times still in print. How is that fairing for those of you who live in a city with something similar?
Like lamom, I get the best local news from several Facebook groups: local crimes (often in real time), interviews with the local politicians, information on everything from trash hauling to businesses opening or closing. It’s far better than I ever got from the LA Times. And there are no filters; everyone can chime in. Plus getting news online saves so much wasted paper.