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.
The last time I bought a newspaper was back during the 2000 Subway series. Before that was in 1994 when I was unemployed and would buy the local Sunday paper for the want ads.
Newspapers are filled with idiots, hypocrites, liars, traitors, and retards. No one should shed any tears as they go the way of the dodo bird.
Yes indeedy…and I’m with you there on the sports. Don’t read them either.
You could say that about almost anything.
It’s a boring answer, but… I just read Google news. Why not? All the print stuff is there anyway, for free.
For me it is just so much simpler to get my news online.
I read my local online, & am horrified by the opinions posted by my fellow Dogpatchites.
Or Dogpatchoids, as the case may be.
In my previous incarnation I lived in a big city, and every morning on my public transport commute to work I would buy our local broadsheet and read it back to back AND do all the puzzles.
Nowadays I work from home, and I can’t get that b/s newspaper up here on a daily basis. So as a concession, I get the tabloid…and because it’s not worth reading, I only get it for the word puzzles. 
Otherwise, I get my news online or via the StraightDope. Both far more reliable sources than our Herald/Sun.
The standard of newspapers here is abysmal. You get some local confidential thing - which is nothing more than what may have happened in some big society event or such- and the rest is crap.
I only get it for the form guide when I do buy it.
That’s my main reason, that and the blatant spin they all seem to have. At least with the Internet I can reference numerous sites that will balance out the idiocy and thus give me a better, more accurate picture. Also, the Internet won’t clutter up my living room.
The only print news source I read these days is the Economist.
Ditto and like has been said, you also get it faster. Almost up-to-the-minute on breaking stories if you wish.
I don’t have time to sit down and read the newspaper. I get most of my news from the web while I’m at work but I can’t imagine blatantly opening a paper at my desk and reading. I watch ESPN for my sports news so I don’t need a paper copy that will tell me the same thing. I do buy the local weekly paper occasionally to find out the event schedule for festivals but that’s about it.
We used to subscribe to the local paper, but we found that with getting up and rushing to work in the morning, and plenty of stuff to keep us busy after work we only managed to read the paper about 1 day in 4. The rest of the papers sat around the house still wrapped in elastic bands until we took out the recycling at the end of the week.
Its much easier to check out the local paper’s web site, CNN and other news sources online than to dedicate 20-30 minutes reading through the entire newspaper.
I used to read the Boston Globe religiously, but life got busier. And when I looked over what I was spending time on vs. what I got out of it, the daily newspaper lost out. Instead of spending maybe 7 hours a week on the newspaper I spend one hour a week reading a newsmagazine (I rotated between Time and Newsweek) and feel adequately informed.
I read the newspaper, only not in print.
I read it on my phone or laptop. It’s a lot more convenient to read the New York Times, CNN, etc all in one handy little tablet, and weighs the same amount as carrying around a dozen newspapers.
I only read a hand full of articles from any given newspaper anyway…
First, the semi-decent paper from the nearest big city decided not to deliver to our area anymore. Then, I got busy. And the local paper from the medium city nearby got smaller and smaller, and frankly gave lousy coverage, even of the local stories.
When I realized I was only reading it for the obits (keeping tabs on my very extended family this way) and that I could do that online, it made no sense to buy a paper copy anymore.
I miss it sometimes, I grew up reading a daily paper, and did so for many decades. But now the net provides the news I need.
This is our main issue too. I get most of my news from the BBC and CBC websites. I find U.S. sources to be less accurate and more geared toward “infotainment”. For example, the tennis coverage for the Aussie Open, in most U.S. sources, talks way, way too much about the women’s “fashion faux pas” rather than their actual matches.
Other than key headline stories and important local stories, the news in our local paper is all stuff I read on Fark three days ago.
But the biggest issue is that we strive to reduce our waste output. That includes recycling. If we don’t bring waste into the house from the get go, our output is much lower. The daily newspaper is a whack of paper that we have a relationship with lasting less than 24 hours before it’s to be discarded. No thanks.
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.
My guess: It increases the cost. Our company does printed materials from time to time and every fold costs more. On really big pages you can fit a lot of content and have one fold. On a page that’s half the size, you can fit only half the content… which means for the same amount of news, you’d need twice the number of pages. So twice the folds, greater cost. And then if you actually want the pages stapled…
If I hold a newspaper, I lose the feeling in my fingers due to carpal tunnel syndrome. I live in a rural area, so the newspaper comes with the mail and I do not get to read it until the evening. When I got a daily newspaper, they piled up until they were knee deep and I had to haul them off. The newspaper was expensive.
Now I am able to read three local “papers” each morning when they are published and get more news from Google News.
Same issues with magazines.
I used to buy the Globe and Mail every single day. (Well, except Sunday.)
I stopped around 1998. I still buy one occasionally, if I am breakfasting alone.
Mainly though… uhh… Google News.
However, I can admit that I feel less in touch with the world these days. I miss reading the Globe Review every week-end, I think I read less these days.
Maybe I’ll get me a week-end subscription again.