When I was a kid, we had the local paper delivered to our door seven days a week. When my husband and I bought our first house ten years ago, I immediately ordered home delivery of The Asbury Park Press, our local newspaper. (Incidentally, we made a joint decision not to have television hooked up in our new house, so we were counting on the paper to be our major news source.)
Initially, I was very good at keeping up with the paper–I would read it, clip the coupons, and then recycle it. But then life started getting in the way. I found with home ownership came more responsibility and less leisure time. My weekends were spent raking the millions of leaves that fell from our trees, planting flowers, or washing woodwork. The newspapers started piling up in a basket near the front door, their little plastic bags crinkling as I tossed yet another (unread) paper in the basket.
Guilt drove me to cut my delivery to weekends only. I saved a few dollars and still had the paper for coupons and the full-color comics–priorities, priorities! By this point, the internet was really heating up and many news outfits were reporting news online. I began reading all my news online and soon after canceled our subscription, relying solely on the internet for news–both global and local.
These days it’s rare that I read an ‘actual’ newspaper–usually only when we’re traveling–just to keep up on the rest of the globe. Clearly, I’m not in the minority, as evidenced by the closure of several large newspapers in America. I miss the feel of the newsprint and smell of the ink (I used to sniff mimeographs as a kid–I LOVE chemical aromas!), but it just isn’t feasible for me to get the paper delivered anymore.
So, how about you? Do you still have a paper delivered? What’s the name of YOUR local paper? Do you even read a newspaper or do you get your news from the internet or television?
Book, Line, and Sinker 
We will be moving into our new house at the beginning of September and we can’t wait to subscribe to our hometown paper, The Washington Post. I will also pop out on Sundays and get the NY Times. I do read newspapers online and was grateful for that option while living in Okinawa but Hubby and I like the idea of getting the Wash Post in our driveway every morning. We grew up with it, like you with yours, and will keep that tradition going.
We used to get just the Sunday paper for a while, but it started piling up unread because I already get my news from msnbc.com and the like. Now, we have a community paper that comes to us for free on Sundays. I like it because it’s just the local news happenings plus the grocery ad and a crossword puzzle (Priorities!) so it’s nice to have that to look at with my coffee Sunday morning, plus if it goes unread I don’t feel guilty about wasting money.
I used to work at a newspaper, in the editorial department, even, but now I don’t subscribe to my local paper and I don’t regularly read the local paper, either. I get most of my news via the internet.
We do subscribe to our paper, The Greenville News, but we’re one of the few families on our street who do.
The only reason we are getting a paper delivered right now (3 days a week) is that my parents had it delivered when they were here for the summer, then had the rest of their subscription transfered to us. Probably all I’ll do with it is clip diaper coupons from the Sunday papers – and maybe read the comics.
I have “The State” delivered and read it once in awhile.
First, I’d like to comment on your post by saying how GREAT for you that your husband agreed to NO TV?? still??? (I could not imagine that happening EVER–my husband is addicted)
My husband has USA Today and the Wall Street Journal delivered to our home. Sometimes we also pick up the NY Post for him.
I listen to local and national news on TV.
lol! yes, we are still tv-free over here. i miss jeopardy! but not much else…he misses some of the true-crime and sci-fi stuff but we can watch some shows on our computer if we get desperate. 🙂
I am still getting over the fact you have no television. My kids would commit hari kari if I took their telly away. Though saying that I personally never watch it. I would rather read and blog. So hats off to you and your hubby.
I don’t ever read the newspaper and actually avoid the news as I find it depressing.
This is a great discussion topic – one I’ve had in many of my classes over the past year.
I go to Santa Clara University and we get subscriptions to a lot of the major newspapers: NYTimes, Wall Street Journal, and locals (The San Jose Mercury News). I haven’t since I’ve been her utilized this fact. I feel awful about it, but I just don’t have the time!
My parents still have a daily newspaper subscription. It’s something they swear they cannot live without. They read it at breakfast and if for whatever reasons they skip breakfast, they read it over dinner. It’s a huge part of their daily routine and I can’t imagine home without the newspaper sitting on the table.
I guess I just need to find a way of ingraining the newspaper into my daily routine. After all, my subscription is currently free thanks to the university.
I don’t have my local paper (The Washington Post) delivered, but I don’t really feel like I’m missing out. I can pretty much find the news online if I need to read it.
I work for our local newspaper — actually, I technically work for all three of our local papers in our tri-county area of Maryland! Needless to say, I do subscribe and read all of our hard work… though mostly because I live at home, and my dad pays that annual bill! If I were on my own, I’d probably just grab a free copy from work. Hate to say it, but that’s the truth!
I still think newspapers play an important and vital role in our communities — particularly the local newspapers, like mine, that provide local news and information in an unbiased manner. We do have several local “news” sites set up around here run by other outfits, but they’re less than credible — in my personal, humble opinion.
Personally, I rely on Google News and Twitter to get the news to me. I seriously check out the “trending topics” on Twitter to see what people are talking about… and then research as needed. Perhaps that’s not the most reliable way of doing it, but that’s what I tend to do! 🙂 It’s a digital world, baby!
Just this weekend my husband finally conceded to reduce our newspaper delivery to weekends only. I never get any of the paper read during the week and he only gets some of it read. I hate to do it because I hate to be any part of the cause of the local paper coming to an end.
I have never subscribed to a newspaper. By the time I was interested in reading one, I worked in a library and it wasn’t a problem. I get my news from the Internet. We do have a weekly local paper, The Centerville Press, which I really should subscribe to as a matter of pride (in the venture if not the actual writing) but I haven’t as yet.
This is a great discussion since so many print editions of papers seem to be a thing of the past. I have read the newspaper for as long s I can remember. My local paper is the San Jose Mercury News. It has less and less articles because there aren’t any ads to support the staff. I think they will be going to an all online version one day soon. I do quite a bit of traveling for business and ended up getting pretty addicted to the New York Times. I got it delivered to my home for a few years and have switched to getting it on my Kindle now. I know lots of people that get all of their news from the TV or Internet. I’m determined to keep reading a paper even if I read it on my Kindle.
We do have a local paper and I enjoy it so much. Some days it has nothing in it at all but I still like it.
We don’t have a subscription to our local paper. We sometimes will buy the Sunday Edition. I read my news mostly online. My sister is more news orientated than me. She watches the news channels too. It drives me crazy for hours at a time. UGH!
I have always lived with my head a little up in the clouds dreaming. I really do not like watching the news before bedtime. It does not contribute to peaceful sleep. I work in a medical office setting and we have the TV on a news channel for the patients and I do my best to tune it out but it is right in my face. I hate it. I vote to buy books and better magazines for the waiting room!
Looks like I’m one of the few who is a die-hard newspaper subscriber. Not only do we get our local paper (Colorado Springs Gazette), we also get the Financial Times. the latter is fantastic for world news.
I can’t stand the news online or on TV because it seems so much more subjective and repetitive than a newspaper. With a newspaper, news move on like they should; with TV/internet they go on and on and on over and over again with the same stuff (Michael Jackson comes to mind).
Just my opinion, LOL!
We travel around so we buy USA Today as we go. TV is iffy in many places but at least USA Today gives me a snapshot of what’s going on. Then I buy either Time or Newsweek. I also like CNN online as well as HuffingtonPost online. I like to follow the news.
We just went to Sunday-only newspaper delivery when the Chicago Tribune jacked up our subscription cost by another $80/year. They have been messing about with their format and content constantly for the last couple of years, and becoming ever more parochial and lifestyle-driven, so it’s not a huge loss. I must say, though, that I appreciate the Sunday paper more now.
I still get the newspaper. And I also get the Asbury Park Press via email. I’m originally from Little Silver & Oceanport but now I live in Wisconsin.
I have to ask, where are you. Email me you would like. It be great to talk to someone from back home. NJ will always be my home.
I’ll read the paper when I’m in the coffee shop, but otherwise, I get my news via online editions of LA Times and NY Times, and via car radio w/ NPR. Even Twitter, for breaking news updates. But I’d hate to see actual newspapers disappear.
My parents subscribed to the newspaper for a few years but canceled this year because the price doubled. My dad enjoyed it, but started to find it stressful when he couldn’t get the whole thing read every day. Now they buy the Sunday edition at the dollar store instead.
My parents have always subscribed to the paper and always will. I love the comfort in knowing that one little thing will never change about my house. I’m just sad that it’s a dying medium…no one in my generation would even think about spending money for a hard copy of the news.