# Why don't people read newspapers anymore? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 22, 2010, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-read-newspapers-anymore/525929 "2010-01-22T00:45:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2010, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-read-newspapers-anymore/525929/41 "2010-01-23T05:21:50Z")
Don’t like the ink on my hands. ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2010, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-read-newspapers-anymore/525929/42 "2010-01-23T15:54:48Z")
I can get the same content online for free, and I’m too lazy to deal with a huge pile of papers in my apartment. Besides, my paper of choice is the _Washington Post_, and they don’t deliver in smalltown Mississippi. (I would gladly pay for an online subscription if I had to, but at the moment, I don’t have to pay anything.) ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2010, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-read-newspapers-anymore/525929/43 "2010-01-23T16:18:34Z")
> [@amarinth](#): > > This used to be a two newspaper town and I subscribed to the one that went under. > > The one that lived took over the remainder of the subscriptions and it was awful. I don’t remember it being that bad in years past. Now I read it from time to time and think that many, many people should be ashamed of themselves for the quality of the paper. It seems like they’ve decided they don’t have to bother anymore because they’re the only game in town. > > So I don’t subscribe a paper anymore. Emerald City, WA seems to be Seattle. My son lives there and subscribed to the PI till it folded and now he gets the Seattle Times. I thought the PI was pretty vacuous and the Times is worse. Good reason to give it up. Living in Montreal, I get the NYTimes delivered daily and I enjoy it. But it costs nearly $100/month. I see that next year they are going to charge frequent visitors to their web site for access. Home subscribers are supposedly exampt but I will not be because mine is not delivered by an authorized NYTimes delivery service (which doesn’t exist here). I love to read it though. But that is the first reason I will likely give it up next year. I will not pay for both home delivery and online access. What is the other? **I hate continueds.** All newspapers do it. Some magzines do and some don’t. But I don’t subscribe to any of the former. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2010, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-read-newspapers-anymore/525929/44 "2010-01-23T17:00:07Z")
I try to read the local newspaper every day, but it seems like I go through it much faster than in the past. Compared to 20 years ago or so, sections are much smaller, there’s less depth, and the lack of real content is compounded by larger type and more photos and graphics. It seems like the big Sunday edition of the local paper is equivalent to one of the old weekday editions from a couple of decades ago. It’s not like I’m pining for the newspapers of the 1950s and earlier, with minutae such as the arrival and departure times and the cargo of lake freighters, little league baseball scores, filler stories consisting of local news from hundreds of miles away, detailed weather maps cluttered with arcane meteorological symbols rather than a simple temperature heat map, and so on, but … c’mon, even USA Today has more content than the local paper now. The price of the local paper has remained about the same, adjusted for inflation, but I’m getting so much less for my money than in the past. ---
**Author:** ![luv2draw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/46a35a/32.png) [@luv2draw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/luv2draw)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2010, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-read-newspapers-anymore/525929/45 "2010-01-23T17:12:19Z")
I used to read the Sunday NYTimes cover to cover practically. It took me almost all day. Now I read it online everyday. They update constantly throughout the day and since I am unemployed it’s almost always in one of my tabs. It’s been free so far but starting in 2011 the NYTimes is going to charge. That’s ok with me as long as it’s reasonable. I better have a job by then. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Snow\_Pea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dbc845/32.png) [@Snow\_Pea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snow_Pea)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2010, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-read-newspapers-anymore/525929/46 "2010-01-23T18:49:15Z")
I got fed up with purchasing a bunch of advertising. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2010, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-read-newspapers-anymore/525929/47 "2010-01-23T22:53:35Z")
I still read a print newspaper every day. Guess I’m one of the few. There are a couple of reasons: With a print newspaper, I can go through it from front to back and make sure that I’ve seen every single article. I read every headlline at least, and all the stories that look even a little bit interesting. Even the two paragraph item today about how the local schools might change their teaching hours next year, for example. Whenever I look at a newspaper’s web site, I can never find a way to mechanically go throught the whole thing to make sure that I see every article in the paper, so I never know if I missed anything. Second, reading the paper is part of my morning wake-up routine. I lie back on my sofa holding the newspaper section above me. My laptop is too heavy to do that comfortably. ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2010, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-read-newspapers-anymore/525929/48 "2010-01-23T23:34:36Z")
When I am at work, I read the SF Chronicle every day. But that’s because I get to read it and put it back. I occasionally pay for it when I’m not working. But it’s gotten smaller and smaller, and more and more expensive - a buck daily, and three on Sunday. Funk dat. Joe ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2010, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-read-newspapers-anymore/525929/49 "2010-01-24T05:02:39Z")
95% of the news in most newspapers is just reprinted wire stories. The only real reporting is for local news. So why would you get a newspaper to read the wire stories, when you can just read the wire stories online? Back before the internet the only way to get the wire stories was through your local paper. But that isn’t true anymore, so what value do the local papers add? We subscribe to our neighborhood newspaper, because it has original local stories (of course, only 4 or 5 a week, but still). But why would we subscribe to the Seattle Times, when all the Seattle Times does is reprint wire stories? ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2010, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-read-newspapers-anymore/525929/50 "2010-01-24T05:07:38Z")
> [@Brandus](#): > > This is probably unusual, but the thing I hate most about newspapers is their bulky and awkward size. I feel stupid trying to unfold and read this giant, awkward sheet. Why can’t they print news in the shape of a magazine? I actually would enjoy reading the news occasionally if I was traveling or at a cafe. I’ve always felt this way too, they are a big pain in the butt to fold, unfold and the whole "story continued on page XX " thing? Worse pain. Now that everything is online I get my news there, and/or radio news. Our local paper is pathetic and I have a feeling they’ll be folding pretty soon, at least their paper version, their website will likely stay going. ---
**Author:** ![AboutAsWeirdAsYouCanGet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@AboutAsWeirdAsYouCanGet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AboutAsWeirdAsYouCanGet)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2010, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-read-newspapers-anymore/525929/51 "2010-01-24T05:36:52Z")
> [@](#): > > but … c’mon, even USA Today has more content than the local paper now. Aughhhhh…don’t mention that paper.It’s not a real paper. It’s for lining drawers! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-read-newspapers-anymore/525929.md?page=2)