In Praise of Print Newspapers

 

I started today as I do most every day: padding out to the driveway in my jammies and socks to grab the newspapers. Yes, that is plural. We subscribe to print versions of both our local paper, The Daily Herald (“Utah Valley’s Source for Local News”), and a national paper, The Wall Street Journal. We used to also subscribe to the print New York Times, but it was really hard to find time to read all three, and I eventually cut out the one that seemed to be the last one read. Now I read the Times online. 

 

Once I get the papers, I slide them out of their little plastic casings, spread them out on the kitchen island, and get ready for breakfast. As I eat my eggs and yogurt, I page through each paper. Starting with the local paper, I read about the latest doings of the city council, the local high school sports, the latest from the school boards, the startling stories on crimes in our quiet town, and the reports on neighborhood businesses and service organizations. I scan the obituaries to see if anyone I know is there, and I check out the opinion page for commentary on what’s going on in the area.

 

 I always finish by reading the comics page. It’s a good day when they provide a chuckle, a great day when a strip makes me laugh out loud and want to share it with my husband. 

 

Then, I move on to the Journal: reading the stories on the front page, paging through the A section to learn in more detail about the “Breaking News” stories that have shown up in headline form on my phone already. Sometimes the reading of the Journal in detail has to wait until lunch, or another lull in the day, but I always read it. I especially enjoy reading the opinion page, which gives me new perspectives and insights on the news of the day. 

 

Then the rest of day I find myself saying to those around me, “Did you see the piece in the Herald about. . .?” or “There was an article in the Journal that really started me thinking.”

 

It’s a lovely routine for me. I’m not sure I can eat breakfast without a paper spread out before me. I’m not sure I can make sense of the world around me without the papers to provide information and commentary.

 

This morning, though, as I turned the pages of the local Daily Herald, I received a nasty shock. There, at the top of A4, was a terrifying headline: “Both SLC [Salt Lake City] newspapers to cease daily publication.” TheDeseret News and the Salt Lake Tribune have been publishing the news since the early days of the Utah Territory, long before Utah became a state. They have balanced news reporting for the state, the Deseret News being the more conservative paper and the Tribune the more liberal. What will happen without them?

 

Of course, the papers are not gone forever. The two papers will still be reporting the news, only in a digital format. They will also still publish a print paper once a week. I suppose this is an inevitable move. Once newspapers were supported by business advertising and the classified section; now that has all moved online. Subscriptions can only pay for so much of the cost, especially since fewer and fewer people are subscribing to print papers. 

 

It is so easy to get your news on your phone, in those “breaking news” alerts, or even on Facebook or Twitter. Recently I filled out a survey with a question on how I received my news. The choices were TV News, Facebook, Friends, or Twitter. I had to admit my print newspaper addiction under the “Other” category.

 

Losing print newspapers is a loss, though. Here are a few reasons that come to mind

 

1.     Depth of reporting. The news reports I find attached to friends’ Facebook posts or coming across my phone as an alert are generally pretty sparse, not much more than a headline. I don’t see the depth or analysis I find in the print paper. Often the references to the news found in friends’ Facebook feeds tend to be sensational and biased. 

 

2.     Competing digital distractions. When I read news on my phone, even if it is the same story found in the print version of the publication, I skim through it pretty quickly. There is so much more to be found on my phone that I tend to move on pretty quickly to other available stuff: friends’ vacation photos, funny memes, cat videos. Though I suppose it is possible, it seems harder to read seriously when reading news on my phone.

 

3.     The serendipity effect. When I read the news online, I often go looking for something. I know what I want to find out about (the latest debate, the stock market news, what’s happening in the middle east, the latest Covid numbers

), and thanks to efficient search engines, I can find what I want in seconds. I read the article I’m interested in and that is that. When I read the paper, I turn page by page, scanning all the headlines. Often, I find something interesting that I didn’t even know was a thing. I am broadened by information I didn’t even know I needed or wanted to know. 

 

I suppose we will get used to the change. If the Daily Herald and the Wall Street Journal ever cease their print publications, I suppose I will get used to eating my eggs while reading the news on my phone.

 

 I just hope those digital venues will also include a comics section.