Poll: Who pays for their news?

[NW-Bound]

Never heard of the Babylon Bee, so I just looked it up.

Between the Onion and the Babylon Bee, you've got everything you need.

The Onion calls itself "America's Finest News Source", while a motto of the Babylon Bee is "Fake News You Can Trust".

 

[audreyh1]

It is not fake news, it is exclusive access to alternative facts.

Yeah! Love that "alternative facts" option! But only if it's free!!!

 

[Bamaman]

Printed newspapers are essentially a thing of the past.

Most newspapers in our region don't reflect the thoughts of their readers and the news is very slanted in another direction.

Local television stations are also a dying breed. And news is where their profits are generated from. Unless there is a storm coming, I never watch local television.

Come to think of it, I look at little of the "big 3" national tv channels "prime time" television shows. Satellite television just has so many other shows to watch.

 

[JoeWras]

Our carrier is so good that s/he does a bank shot off a wall, and lags the paper up to the door s/he can not even see! I am impressed. Hope s/he remains our carrier. Oh, and s/he RUNS to and from the elevator - I assume so that s/he can catch the elevator before it leaves. THIS year at Christmas, there WILL be an envelope on our gate for our carrier! YMMV

I hope the rest of you continue to let some of us reminisce, especially our Chicago friends.

In Chicago, there is the concept of "2 or 3 flats". A building with 2 or 3 apartments. Usually the owner in one, renters in others, stacked up on a narrow 33 ft lot. In the back is the "porch," which is really a carpenter's dream of steps leading up to the 3rd floor. Back in the day, most were open. Since then, most have been enclosed. But we're talking back in the day.

Anyway, the newspaper carriers (known as "boys") were highly skilled at throwing the rubber-band-rolled paper up to each proper deck level. I'm serious, it was a real skill! Only rarely would the paper hit the door and make noise. These kids were masters at their craft.

And then they would have to return to their cart, which seemingly was designed and made in the 1890s. I'm not kidding there either. I truly believe some of the carts these boys rolled were 70 years old.

Days gone by. Dang, I'm feeling old.

 

[Montecfo]

Sadly most newspapers and in fact most news media in general have abandoned straight news and instead reflect a clear political slant. Even more sadly, that slant pervades the news pages and not just editorial content.

As a news junkie I have found you need a number of sources in order to discern what is right and avoid being misinformed or uninformed.

It is a lot harder than it used to be, that's for sure. But eliminating "national newspapers" was an easy call for me. My paid subscriptions are business oriented which works for me.

 

[JoeWras]

Sadly most newspapers and in fact most news media in general have abandoned straight news and instead reflect a clear political slant. Even more sadly, that slant pervades the news pages and not just editorial content.

Right. And that's why it isn't "you get what you pay for." I would pay for straight news. Instead, we get veiled editorial which I why I dropped our paper.

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

Sadly most newspapers and in fact most news media in general have abandoned straight news and instead reflect a clear political slant. Even more sadly, that slant pervades the news pages and not just editorial content.

As a news junkie I have found you need a number of sources in order to discern what is right and avoid being misinformed or uninformed.

It is a lot harder than it used to be, that's for sure. But eliminating "national newspapers" was an easy call for me. My paid subscriptions are business oriented which works for me.

I can remember a number of reporters -- mainly members of minority groups -- who considered themselves advocates for the groups they belonged to at times. They were often hired to "diversify" the newsroom, which had been almost 100% white and male since the printing press was invented. In that environment, the poor and disenfranchised were usually either caricatured or ignored.

If we were to look back a couple generations at newspapers of the day, you would see civil rights activists branded as troublemakers and communists. Go back three generations and read how they got behind the internment of Japanese-Americans during WWII. Has the pendulum swung too far the other way? Maybe it fills in the gaps left behind by TV news which reports mostly shootings and protests.

In fact, police reports remain a primary source for all news gathering, and they're usually treated as privileged -- that is, unquestioned. Street videos of police in action are calling that policy into question.

I will concede that journalists tend to lean left, although I have known a bunch who have gone on to work in right-wing think tanks. I remember taking calls from people complaining that we were the mouthpiece of the establishment. My managing editor would observe that, if everybody thinks the paper is biased, we're probably setting the right tone.

 

[Qs Laptop]

We subscribe to our daily metropolitan newspaper, The Minneapolis StarTribune, as well as the local weekly print newspaper. We get the print edition of the StarTribune on Saturday and Sundays (crosswords) and read online during the week.

I used to have a WaPo online subscription but they've gone so far left I let it lapse years ago. I get most of my news via Google News custom feed, AP News ap, and Reuters. Occasionally I will look at the BBC News site.

 

[Vincenzo Corleone]

I do not pay for my news. My wife has a subscription to the Washington Post - which I'm not too happy about considering that it's owned by Jeff Bezos whose agenda is not one that I particularly agree with. I've noted a bunch of one-sided "reporting" in WaPo.

 

[MrsHaloFIRE]

Plug here for military, our local base library website will give you free access to WSJ via web (can't get it to work on app). You will create a wsj username and password. So try your base, or try mine JBSA joint base San Antonio. Call them if you have probs they are super nice. I bet slot of library systems do same.

 

[braumeister]

Plug here for military, our local base library website will give you free access to WSJ via web (can't get it to work on app). You will create a wsj username and password. So try your base, or try mine JBSA joint base San Antonio. Call them if you have probs they are super nice. I bet slot of library systems do same.

You can do this without referencing a particular base.

Go to MWR Digital Library and create an account. There are a great many resources available through that system. You have to update your password every 90 days, which is a minor annoyance, but the service is terrific.

 

[Walt34]

Whatever things or stories you want to hear, there's a version of it on the Web if you look. And it's all free too.

Paid news channels don't give you what you like to hear, and they even have the audacity to charge you for it. Gah!

The audacity of them! To be sure I don't want to read stuff that makes me upset, and I'm certainly not going to pay for it. I only want to read stuff that I agree with and of course free is better.

 

[Ready]

Apple is having a Black Friday special on their News Plus service today. If you sign up you get three free months. After 3 months it is $9.99 per month but you can cancel after three months if you don’t like it.

It looks like the entire WSJ newspaper is included in the subscription. As far as I can tell every article is there.

 

[audreyh1]

DH is really enjoying the audio content from Apple News Plus. Many articles can be listened to.

 

[drb391]

haven't read thru the thread. subscribe to local enewspaper just for NYT xword. print it out to do. also one from AZ (snowbird) for the SunNYT. local paper tried to carry it few yrs ago, but went back to an easier one - too many complaints it was "too hard". smh

 

[LA_Newsboy]

We have print subs to LAT, NYT and WSJ, and WaPo online. I'm another ink-stained wretch with 35 years on big dailies, a weekly and the A&P.

 

[Pellice]

I pay for a number of mostly online news sources, including my local newspaper. Journalists do important work and I understand that it costs money. However, I read widely in sources for which I do not pay as well. I do what I can and what I can afford.

 

[Alectoris]

Within the last few months I purchased a subscription to the local small town newspaper print edition. Also have paper subscriptions to various sporting magazines and Scientific American.

I like the hard copies and hope that they never go away.

 

[Rocket Man]

Sadly most newspapers and in fact most news media in general have abandoned straight news and instead reflect a clear political slant. Even more sadly, that slant pervades the news pages and not just editorial content.

As a news junkie I have found you need a number of sources in order to discern what is right and avoid being misinformed or uninformed.

It is a lot harder than it used to be, that's for sure. But eliminating "national newspapers" was an easy call for me. My paid subscriptions are business oriented which works for me.

Could not agree more. The papers we get are all local, and I totally skip their national news sections because it is simply associated press propaganda. Just read some of the local news stories, local sports and obits. They should save themselves some money and drop those AP feeds.

 

[JohnRM]

We get the paper and NYT online

I don't get the Herald to support journalism, I get it for the comics and crosswords. It would help if they made the crossword squares and clues larger.

One problem with online news sources, sometimes if you aren't careful, you can click into a less trustworthy site or a disguised ad without noticing.

The thread about crap writing got me wondering how many forum members pay to support a news source. I spent over 30 years working in daily newspaper journalism, and I see the industry as on the verge of death. COVID-19 probably knocked 25% out of an already shrinking revenue stream. A small-city daily paper in my area recently laid off its managing editor; she had worked there for 41 years.

DW and I have paid subscriptions to two local newspapers, a regional (statewide) paper and a national news source. I consider it money well spent. How about you?

 

[jayanu]

The thread about crap writing got me wondering how many forum members pay to support a news source. I spent over 30 years working in daily newspaper journalism, and I see the industry as on the verge of death. COVID-19 probably knocked 25% out of an already shrinking revenue stream. A small-city daily paper in my area recently laid off its managing editor; she had worked there for 41 years.

DW and I have paid subscriptions to two local newspapers, a regional (statewide) paper and a national news source. I consider it money well spent. How about you?

I pay for NYT and Washington Post.

 

[peterj]

NYT and Wapo for me.

 

[Sunseeker]

The Wall Street Journal is running a Black Friday special -- $4.00/month for a year -- a total of $36. The offer expires today.

 

[Vinnygret]

The thread about crap writing got me wondering how many forum members pay to support a news source. I spent over 30 years working in daily newspaper journalism, and I see the industry as on the verge of death. COVID-19 probably knocked 25% out of an already shrinking revenue stream. A small-city daily paper in my area recently laid off its managing editor; she had worked there for 41 years.

DW and I have paid subscriptions to two local newspapers, a regional (statewide) paper and a national news source. I consider it money well spent. How about you?

Husband and I subscribe to only remaining Baltimore daily paper. And it is EXPENSIVE. I think it gives us access to the online version as well, but we still like the actual paper. We like the NYT crossword puzzles that come with the Baltimore paper. We also take the local paper that comes out twice a week. I think the local is part of the Baltimore Sun. Where else would I put my vegetable peels?

 

[aja8888]

Husband and I subscribe to only remaining Baltimore daily paper. And it is EXPENSIVE. I think it gives us access to the online version as well, but we still like the actual paper. We like the NYT crossword puzzles that come with the Baltimore paper. We also take the local paper that comes out twice a week. I think the local is part of the Baltimore Sun. Where else would I put my vegetable peels?

Newspaper is also good for egg shells and coffee grounds! Don't hold back!

Also, bird cage floor lining.