Do you read your local newspaper?

[CornField]

I'm not talking about the big daily that publishes across the state (unless that is your town's primary newspaper), but about the smaller, once or twice a week paper in your town.

[demnan]

1. No, but I should

actually our local paper isn't half bad. I just don't take the newspaper and forget to visit the website.

[salvorhardin]

2. You mean the recipe and barnyard report?

Add hysteric windmill phobia into the mix and that just about describes our local publication.

[silverweb]

3. Nope.

The San Diego Union-Trib is a right-wing rag to begin with.

Then they pissed me off by sending a saleskid to knock on my door every two weeks, while in between visits they telephoned at least once a week.

I really, really detest pushy sales tactics... especially when they know I'd be able to find them on my own if I wanted them.

[question everything]

5. And yet...

I on occasions post an editorial or a cartoon from the SDUT - did so just recently - that are honest, even left leaning - and the responses are always: from the SAN DIEGO UNION TRIBUNE?

Several weeks ago, at the height of the "leak" investigation, it had a cartoon with the map of Iraq and a faucet in the middle, from which red liquid was getting out.

I felt a grip in my heart when first saw it as did those who saw it on the Editorial forum. At least online, I find the SDUT very informative and... one of the few that does not require registration, yet.

See http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x183197

and

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x183328

[silverweb]

10. I did notice.

I didn't comment, but did notice the recent cartoon you posted from the SDUT. Still wouldn't buy it, though, and I can get local news from local TV or on line.

Many people still need the feel of the pages in their hands and as long as newspapers can fill that need, they'll exist. Personally, I think the wood is better left growing in what's left of our forests.

[question everything]

4. Yes, and we should support local newspapers like

the Minneapolis strib, NYT, LAT - Yes, WP SFC and others.

They provide a very fragile wall against the sound bites from the Internet and Faux news. A wall where one still has to read - though they are trying to offer their own sound bites to keep the attention of their readers.

The RW crowd wants its info in very few words the "Me Tarzan You Jane" style, where all they have to do is nod and "ditto."

The newspapers are trying to cover everything, right and left, yet their circulation is dwindling. If we can, we have to support them especially the - cannot say liberal, but at least not rabid WWJD type).

Several months ago I visited Chicago and even the Chicago Tribune, the one with the "my country right or wrong" (I think) still covers everything and is worth subscribing to - for Chicago residents.

[uppityperson]

6. Yes, a weekly

Got to keep up on the gossip, the crime report (cows on the road!), obits/births and generally what is going on around the area. Have a subscription and it's good for local ads.

[TahitiNut]

7. It carries Mallard Fillmore ... but not Doonesbury.

Enough said. :puke:

[Tesha]

11. Make sure you remind them...

> It carries Mallard Fillmore ... but not Doonesbury.

Make sure you remind them from time to time why you're not
a subscriber.

Typical telemarketing call at our house, happens about once per quarter:

Them: So, would you like to subscribe to (our fine publication) again?

Us: You still running "Mallard Fillmore"?

Them: Yup.

Us: Nope. Call us back when you've cancelled him.

Tesha

[TahitiNut]

15. Sadly, my 86-year-old mother is addicted to it for local news.

She follows the obituaries, ads, and articles about local businessmen. (Most 'stories' are PR pieces for the 'town gentry.')

[daleanime]

12. You know....

I've been trying to find someone who laughs at Mallard Fillmore, no luck.

[TahitiNut]

13. It's an utter waste of ink and newsprint.

It could only appeal to the grunt and snort set - people for whom derision supplants both reason and humor.

[kliljedahl]

21. I wouldn't want to meet that person

Don't try too hard



Keith’s Barbeque Central

[Fla Dem]

8. Largest newspaper is from city 50 miles away. No local stuff. Local

paper very light on any real news. Read it on line. Get most of news from net and/or TV.

[Blue_In_AK]

9. The Anchorage Daily News

is actually good, IMO, offering opinions from all sides, plus the letters to the editor are great. Righties tend to call it a liberal rag, but really it's quite fair and balanced. They backed Kerry and Tony Knowles in the last election, but they do reserve a corner of the OpEd section for the old conservative Anchorage Times people, who can spew their right-wing crap as much as they want to. (I never read that part). Additionally, the ADN doesn't hesitate to take jabs at Ted Stevens, Don Young and Frank Murkowski, so all in all, I think they do a good job.

[ThomWV]

14. Used Too - Not Any More

It just became so useless. I had no interest in local marriages, the DUI reports for the weekends had lot their apeal too. There wasn't much of anything else. At some point you just have to quit.

[sinkingfeeling]

16. No, canceled my subscription after the November 2004 election.

Just couldn't stomach it anymore.

[AlCzervik]

17. every morning i read the sacramento Beee, it's worth it for Rex Babin

his cartoon enrage the rightwing.
http://www.sacbee.com/content/opinion/cartoons/babin/

link for his page

[Broke In Jersey]

18. Yes, I read the local papers....

but for free online!!!

[bunkerbuster1]

19. Not only do I read mine, I blog about it!

I read so others don't have to.

(Everyone who is stuck getting a suck-ass redneck daily newspaper delivered for free should do so.)

More fun and games to be had at http://hillbillyragger.blogspot.com

[OldEurope]

20. Yes I do, the famous

Süddeutsche Zeitung

[bunkerbuster1]

22. yep, there's a small-town paper for ya.

Them dunkin' muncheners is cute!

[OldEurope]

24. LOL

:evilgrin:

[AbbyR]

23. I really wish you would read your local papers

I write for a small-town weekly, and we try very hard to give our readers the news that they can't get anywhere else (except maybe at the coffee shops). We work hard on accuracy and complete coverage of everything that happens in our county.

We cover the local city council and its committees, and I hope we play a part in keeping them honest and open about what they are doing. We cover the school board, chamber of commerce, county quorum court, area police and other law enforcement, local elections and statewide elections as they relate to our area. The local community theater is covered, the arts council, local churches (for some reason, people LOVE that), local events like our summer festival and Christmas parade.

We cover local business, run stories on interesting (?) people, get to major car wrecks (yuck) and fires.

The local schools are covered - not just football and basketball games, but seniors, honor students, school activities, graduations and so on.

We have the typical weddings and obits, and we've instituted a policy of charging for obits and weddings that are absolutely nutty - "Grandma went to be with the Lord and her dear departed husband on such and such a date. She loved to grow monster tomatoes in her garden and knit doilies for her grandchildren....etc". If the bride insists on having the fact that she marched down the aisle wearing cowboy boots and singing "Home on the Range," she pays for it.

In general, if it happens in our town or county, we cover it, and we try to cover it well.

No, you won't get national news, except in an editorial or a column (I'm WAY to liberal to please most folks around here), but you will know who's running for local office, what they stand for, if they get into trouble (for something real, not an affair or something) and what they say they would do if elected. And I follow up on their promises.

Anyway, I think everyone should buy and read local papers, because someone at that paper is working hard to be sure people know what they need to know to be well-informed participants in local affairs.

[CornField]

25. I know it's my poll, but I'm gonna have an opinion too

I'm an old newsie. I did my time at the large daily papers and hated it. My love is the small town newspaper. Why? Because it's just so much fun. :) Local, local, local. I had a policy that even our filler/fluff stuff had to be local. We ran stories on people within the community -- everyone from the guy who likes to sit at the bench at the grocery store to the lady who volunteers her time making blankets for the homeless.

I guess I'm a bit disappointed, but not overly surprised, at how many are willing to toss their local paper aside as garbage. I wish I could convince you otherwise. I don't think I can, but I will say one thing: If we want to change the way America thinks about politics and the world at large, we aren't going to do it by posting on an international forum. We'll do it by understanding and making a difference in our own small communities.

Peace.

[PassingFair]

26. Voted NO

Detroit News/Free Press SUCK ASS.
Broke the union BRAZENLY!
I will NEVER suscribe again.
Still a REAL sore spot here after, 8 years or so. People in my neighborhood still have "NO SCAB PAPERS" signs on their lawns.

[Mutley]

27. Oh yeah. The City Paper (Baltimore) is the best.

I read it more often than I do the Baltimore Sun.

http://citypaper.com/

[justabob]

28. Sometimes

both the Dallas Morning News (daily) and the Observer (weekly). DMN is all but useless, though it has gotten marginally better recently. The Observer spends a lot of time on City Hall and bashing the DMN.

[CornField]

29. We always called it

The Dallas Morning Snooze. ;)

[justabob]

30. That pretty much covers it :) nt