I am in a place that gives you a free copy of the old grey nag. Errr mare. No, it's the....Lady! Thats it- the Old Grey Lady.
Its a good way to remind oneself about newspapers, how they feel, work, and what a poor medium they are. I love tradition, and the tradition of news print is romantically appealing. As are books. May they survive long, but the really need to improve their business models.
Let's not confuse the issue with the cost of gathering news. I am all for professional journalism and reporting. But I will edit and curate my own news flow, thank you. I will balance the bias of the news reporter with my own selection of sources. The good will survive. Hacks and charlatans will perish. I do value good columnists, and use means other than print to access their writing.
So, I opened the paper, read a couple of articles, but had to go, and didn't want to carry the damn thing with me, let alone open it at the table or in the car. So I washed my hands, enjoying the sight of grey water going down the drain so I would not smudge my clothes, grabbed my iPhone, and moved on. Figuratively too.
Pulse is my reader of choice. Twitter lists give me as many headlines from as many sources as I can handle. I digest news that interests me, in chunks I can use, when and where I want it. So easy, so effective. And I can access news sources in a "surgical" way, getting many diverse sources I could in no way afford to access via print. The cost of so may print sources reveals their inefficiency, in scope and business model. Move on world, figure it out and stop sobbing about a quaint, outdated bit of history.
Newspapers were super amazing back in the day, a hundred or three years ago. Now they mostly are a waster of trees and chemicals.
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