I think every city should have, in addition to a respectible newspaper, a trashy tabloid, “for those who like to read fast or have to read slow.” In New York we have the Post and the News, who compete every day with lurid, screaming headlines like COP SLAY SHOCK: NARC BOMB LOVE LINK!! I am not making that one up, either, it was one of my faves (right up there with the classic HEADLESS BODY IN TOPLESS BAR!!).
Sad thing, though, is New York used to have half-a-dozen respectible papers, and now we’re down to just the Times, which, with no competition, is not what it used to be . . .
Also, NPR here in the local market (KCMO) carries As It Happens in the early evening. Which ties into Canada.
And between 3-5 (at least I think it’s 3-5) AM it carries some damn thing or another from The UK that’s a Jeopardy type game show, but with questions that are really hard. Brings me down to size when a little old lady described as an orchid freak kicks my sorry butt. Although, to my credit, if I’m up and listening it’s because I’ve been out drinking.
I’m 39 and holding (like Jack Benny). For the latest news I listen to the radio (although you didn’t ask TV too) but when I want more details I read the newspaper ( once I can get myself past the Sunshine girl on page 3).
No commercials. I’ve pretty much stopped listening to radio 'cus I’m sick of commercials (the same ones over and over) and DJs who think they’re far more clever than they actually are. I listen to tapes now.
For news, all you get on most radio news is a soundbite. Maybe a quote. Whoopee. I want something I can read, check out, etc. I also want something I can quote later, should it be necessary. It’s too easy to mis-hear (or just miss) something on the radio, and then you can’t go back and check it again.
I can pick up and put down a newspaper as I have time. The radio news is either on or it’s not. It revolves around their time schedule, not mine.
I get paid (not much, but a little) to write freelance newspaper book reviews. Nobody on the radio has yet offered me money (even a little bit).
I’m 32. I’m an MSNBC junkie. But there’s a reason why I got hooked on it, really there is…
I used to read the newspaper, but then I moved to a different city. My current city (Flint, MI) has a pretty sucky paper. I read it from time to time, but only for a couple of excellent columnists & Ann Landers. We used to have NPR here, too. A very good station, WFBE. My husband’s band played live on it more than once. I must add that FBE stands for Flint Board of Education. Well, those losers decided that they needed money, so they sold their ownership of the bandwidth. It was within commercial bandwidth, you see. Now it’s a country station…one of about a dozen here in this area. Sigh. I turned to MSNBC out of desperation.
Good Monday morning to you all…hope your weekend was as good as mine
Fretfull…interesting…you reflect the other demographic, people in the late teens to mid twenties are reading.
For me, I like being able to go back and scrutinize the info…on the radio, or tv for that matter, the info goes by so quick, you blink/sneeze, you’ve missed it!
30 and register my vote for newspapers. As others have said, you can read at your leisure, read what you want and disregard the rest, skip ads that don’t interest you, and take it to the john. Both tv and radio news are pitiful, even in depth reporting can’t compete with a good newspaper article. I will agree that for breaking news you can’t beat CNN. And I agree with Papa about NPR. Just started a new job with a longer commute, and when I’m not listening to a book on tape I’m tuned to NPR. Only station that has ever caused me to sit in the car in the garage to hear the end of a story. Maybe this is because the stories are interesting and actually last longer that 30 seconds.
I’m 17. Newspapers all the way. Radio news sucks because if you listen to news or talk radio you have to listen to the opinions of others. If I want to read opinions I go to the viewpoints area of my newspaper. And if some guy writes a crappy article I can blow off some steam in the Letters to the Editor section. On radio I have no option like this. Plus it’s a soundbyte and a two sentence report on the radio, while newspapers are infintely more in depth. And like David said, it’s too easy to mis-hear a comment or quote.
As soon as they find a way to broadcast my daily crossword puzzle. . .
To me, the best thing going on NPR is Washington Press Corp. It’s so novel to here a political figure talk for an hour–neither newspapers or regular radio news give people this kind of oppertunity to fill in the soundbites.
I love my paper, but I have a problem. I feel guilty if I throw them away, but I don’t know where there is a nearby recycling drop off. My car is fast becoming a fire trap.
I’m 35 and it’s newspapers all the way. I read two every day (wall street journal & daily herald - Chicago burbs paper.)
Whenever I’m out of town I always by a local paper. Once in Jamacia I paid $5 for a day old USA Today, because I’d gone 4 days without one and was going crazy.
At 32, I’m an NPR junkie: I must hear it for 2 hours at least each day. I also subscribe to the local paper both at home and at my business. But honestly? I read the Sunday paper by about Wednesday and I read the local section and the first section of the daily paper(beyond the front page) about every two or three days. I feel guilty about this: I know I should read more of it and read it more carefully but time is short and they don’t offer me much of anything I can’t get on public radio, which I can do while I do something else. I almost never watch TV news.
We’re blessed in this part of the world: we have 2 public radio stations. One’s classical music plus morning and evening news (WHRO) but the other (WHRV)is all news and information. We get Morning Edition, Christopher Liden’s “The Connection,” Terri Gross’ “Fresh Air,” Ray Suarez’ “Talk of the Nation”, the Nat’l Press Club, the Chatauqua Institution’s lecture series, Clay Jenkinson’s “The Thomas Jefferson Hour,” Car Talk, Whaddya Know, The Environment Show, The Public Radio Health Show, Latino USA, Beyond Computers and a bunch of other stuff. It’s a rich cultural resource.
I do love my crossword, however. Radio can’t do that.
I’m 29. I always felt the newspaper was cumbersome. I’d read an interesting article on the front page, only to find it is continued on page A6. I try to flip to A6 and the whole thing falls apart. And when I finally get to A6, there are so many continued articles with brief and similar titles that I can’t find which one I was reading. And when I do find it, I lost my train of thought anyway. So I have to go back to the front page and figure out the exact title, while the whole thing falls apart even more. Gigantic huge paper, why can’t they find a new format?
How do you guys feel about news magazines? I like US News. I prefer user-friendly medium.
Age 46, former newpaper reporter and copy editor (now a freelance copy editor):
I agree with David B on most points. Newspapers rule, but NPR when on the road.
As for national news coverage: At one of my older newpaper jobs, I used to see the radio news and the print news headlines arrive. The radio news had most the major items of the print new report, except only the first paragraph or two. Now most radio news just makes me want “the rest of the story.”
As for local coverage, the local radio stations used to read the first graph or two of my paper’s local stories over the air, paraphrased. We knew it was true because any mistakes in articles were repeated.
It’s a pretty superficial way to get your news. NPR is the exception. But you can’t put it in your briefcase and open it any time you want it to the issue you wanted. And the ads and mindless filler chatter on commercial radio drive me NUTS.
