# Do you take a daily paper? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 13, 2007, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-take-a-daily-paper/429826 "2007-12-13T06:18:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2007, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-take-a-daily-paper/429826/1 "2007-12-13T06:18:52Z")
I’ve been a subscriber to one or more newspapers for decades. For a while, I was getting three dailies. I enjoyed nothing more than reading the paper on a weekend or over lunch. I’d take the local big-city paper, a nearby city’s more venerable paper (because they paid more attention to politics and international issues), and a local small paper to find out what the city council and the school board were screwing up and who had had their mailbox broken into this week. In all three, I’d enjoy immensely the Letters to the Editor; there’s nothing that brings out the nuts like the opportunity to be in print. These days, I’m down to one paper, which I only get on weekends. I hardly read it, and have been hanging on mostly on the the principal of supporting an independent press. That and reading the letters from the nuts. Last Sunday, I read the paper, and noticed all of two stories in the front section that were written by the paper’s staff and not AP wire or similar. Two. This in a paper published in a town of about 500k people in a six-million or more person metro area. I think I’m done with newspapers. I can mostly find out what I need online, except for extremely local stories. I’ll probably start just picking picking up the small daily around here when I get groceries, every week or so, just to keep in touch with local stuff. And the local nuts. How about you? ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2007, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-take-a-daily-paper/429826/2 "2007-12-13T06:24:43Z")
I used to read the paper every day, until 6 or 7 years ago. Now I get my news from tv or the internet. Except for Sunday. I _have_ to get the Sunday paper- if I don’t it ruins my whole week. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2007, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-take-a-daily-paper/429826/3 "2007-12-13T06:30:37Z")
We subscribe to two papers (local and N.Y. Times). Can’t really relax over meals while reading online stories. Even if you ignore the banner ads and other distractions, there’s always the potential of dripping things into your laptop. You don’t have to worry about shorting out the newspaper. ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2007, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-take-a-daily-paper/429826/4 "2007-12-13T06:39:27Z")
I do enjoy reading the paper, but for me it’s the aging eyes thing. I don’t have to wear reading glasses, I can just buy a bigass monitor and sit close to the screen. What? ---
**Author:** ![fishbicycle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aeb1de/32.png) [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2007, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-take-a-daily-paper/429826/5 "2007-12-13T06:44:10Z")
We tried to subscribe to the local paper when we set up house nine years ago, but they couldn’t manage to deliver it on any two days in a row. After weeks of this, and the broken promises to rectify the problem and credit our account, I told them to stuff it. For the last 6 years I’ve worked at an all-news radio station. Home is one place I go to escape the news. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2007, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-take-a-daily-paper/429826/6 "2007-12-13T07:16:37Z")
Not as such, but I read the free metro paper online every night (next morning’s edition) before I go to bed. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2007, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-take-a-daily-paper/429826/7 "2007-12-13T09:22:48Z")
Always got the paper on a daily basis. Now I never buy it. Nor watch the news on television. Papers annoy me with their editorial standards. ---
**Author:** ![Fern\_Forest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71c47a/32.png) [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2007, 10:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-take-a-daily-paper/429826/8 "2007-12-13T10:22:26Z")
I basically monitor the news on and off throughout the day. So by the time the newspapers come out in the morning I’ve already seen most of the stuff they’re talking about many times. This is especially true for sports and entertainment but valid for science (which is poorly covered all over and practically nonexistent in newspapers) and politics, local, national and world. Plus you have to pay for the paper but the internet, often the same stories, is free. ---
**Author:** ![divemaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/divemaster/32/78_2.png) [@divemaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/divemaster)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2007, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-take-a-daily-paper/429826/9 "2007-12-13T10:54:54Z")
> [@](#): > > I basically monitor the news on and off throughout the day. So by the time the newspapers come out in the morning I’ve already seen most of the stuff they’re talking about many times. I’m the exact opposite. I get two dailies (\*\*Washington Post \*\* and **Washington Times** ). I read them every day. In fact, I’m so addicted to reading the paper that when I travel out of town I have my wife save them for me and I read them all when I get back. In order. I do not watch TV news at all. Except maybe election night to track the returns. I also don’t click click click throughout the day to keep myself constantly updated. I don’t mind finding stuff out the next morning. I like the paper b/c I can read it on the train on the way to work; read it on the Precor/treadmill at the gym; read it while keeping my eye on a football/baseball game on TV. I can take it with me when I go shopping with my wife. (I’m good at staying in the car or parking my butt on a mall bench seat and reading the paper). ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2007, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-take-a-daily-paper/429826/10 "2007-12-13T11:04:53Z")
[QUOTE=Alice The Goon] I used to read the paper every day, until 6 or 7 years ago. Now I get my news from tv or the internet. Except for Sunday. I _have_ to get the Sunday paper- if I don’t it ruins my whole week. [/QUOTE] The first part of that quote is me exactly. I used to buy the _Sydney Morning Herald_ broadsheet every day without fail for many, many years. Then the net came along, and I stopped. Second part, not so much. The Sunday papers here have always been crap. There is just NOTHING IN THEM. The Saturday papers are good though - there’s a weekend’s worth of reading in all the supplements. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2007, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-take-a-daily-paper/429826/11 "2007-12-13T11:21:16Z")
I used to take the Daily Mail. The puzzles kept me occupied over my lunch break and I would attack the cryptic crossword periodically throughout the day. Others in the office took different papers, and in the afternoon we’d swap. ---
**Author:** ![SomeUserName](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e480ec/32.png) [@SomeUserName](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SomeUserName)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2007, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-take-a-daily-paper/429826/12 "2007-12-13T11:33:01Z")
We only get the paper on Saturday and Sunday and we buy it at the corner store. Years ago I had a subscription for the Sunday paper to be delivered. Half the time it was not there. I called and complained several times and they credited me for a couple Sundays. I let the subscription run out as it was more of pain to call every Monday to inform them I had no Sunday paper than it was just to run out to the store. They hasseled me for months trying to get me to subscribe again. After a while they stopped at home and started to call me at work. I had to get nasty with them and then the calls stopped. I would never ever get a subscription with them again. ---
**Author:** ![MonaLizaT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e5b9ba/32.png) [@MonaLizaT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MonaLizaT)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2007, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-take-a-daily-paper/429826/13 "2007-12-13T13:26:56Z")
[QUOTE=divemaster] In fact, I’m so addicted to reading the paper that when I travel out of town I have my wife save them for me and I read them all when I get back. In order. [/QUOTE] I do this too, although our local “mullet wrapper” hardly seems worth it anymore. The St. Petersburg newspaper, four hours away, scoops the local paper on hometown stories. The most recent travesty was to eliminate the movie reviewer and use reviews from the wire. ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2007, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-take-a-daily-paper/429826/14 "2007-12-13T13:53:43Z")
I still read the news avidly, but on-line. I don’t get a print subscription for anything daily any more, the paper piles up incredibly fast, the recycling rules are strict where I live (and the tickets issued to enforce them expensive), and they only collect once a week. For subway reading I still subscribe to weekly or monthly magazines. ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2007, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-take-a-daily-paper/429826/15 "2007-12-13T14:14:20Z")
I read the paper for the local news. It’s based in a very close city, and often has stories on my little town. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2007, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-take-a-daily-paper/429826/16 "2007-12-13T14:29:33Z")
I used to get the _Wall Street Journal_. It just got too expensive and I’ve already read most of the news. I’ll buy the Sunday _Dallas Morning News_, but mainly to glance at it as I’m watching sports on Sunday. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2007, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-take-a-daily-paper/429826/17 "2007-12-13T14:33:27Z")
Chicago Trib delivered to home daily. Generally gets delivered by time I get downstairs (6:15 a.m.). Send dog out to bring in paper, give her biscuit. Sit at dining room table and read comics, local section/weather, and front page while drinking coffee. Leave those sections for wife and kids, while taking sports and business with me on train. Always somewhat dissappointed at the meagre Saturday issue (other than the Books section crossword). Sunday, spend a couple hours reading/scanning most of the sections and do the magazine crossword. Pretty damned mediocre quality writing/editing, but I like the local news. Never watch TV news. ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2007, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-take-a-daily-paper/429826/18 "2007-12-13T14:34:11Z")
I get the NY Times on Saturday and Sunday. Well, actually I get it every day because they screwed up my delivery so much that they offered me free weekday service for a couple months. But, I don’t read the dailies too much. On the weekend, I’m not as online so I read the papers and do the crosswords. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2007, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-take-a-daily-paper/429826/19 "2007-12-13T14:35:05Z")
We get The Boston Globe daily. I can’t imagine NOT getting a daily paper. I mean, what else would we put under cat boxes or school projects? ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2007, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-take-a-daily-paper/429826/20 "2007-12-13T14:58:47Z")
Years ago we used to get both local dailies plus the sunday NY Times, but spotty delivery problems along with the age of instant news gratification led us to dropping all our subscriptions. It got to where all I was getting from the papers was the crossword puzzles. The news itself is always a day behind the rest of the media now, and I can find all of the columns online. I will still pick up a paper if I’m out of the house or away from any computers. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-take-a-daily-paper/429826.md?page=2)