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When newspapers are gone, what will you miss?

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Re: When newspapers are gone, what will you miss?

#21

Post by gaius »

tom_rath wrote: post #16
ph0rque wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That sounds like an idea for a web app... a comics aggregator. You can even have it be customizable for each user, and have something new every day.

There are a few of those. They're actually quite vile: The webcomic artists depend on the ad revenue received from people visiting their sites, so the scrapers which aggregate other web comics end up leeching bandwidth while snatching revenue from the content creators.

Yes and no; IIRC the XKCD chap says he makes his money from merchandising. But you're right; people who want their content syndicated set up RSS on their sites and people who don't, don't.

Re: When newspapers are gone, what will you miss?

#22

Post by maurycy »

cchooper wrote: post #13

I'm not confident that blogs will replace professional commentators. I don't know any blogs that have the same kind of quality as the Financial Times comment section (except Willem Buiter's, which the FT publishes). The same goes for something like The Economist. These people are paid to write, and given budgets that allow them to research stories. They are a world away from unpaid blogging.

And there's also a fear factor. If you're alone guy, how can you fight against big corporation that is able to spend millions on lawyers?

Re: When newspapers are gone, what will you miss?

#24

Post by justindz »

gnaritas wrote: post #11

Won't miss anything, haven't picked up a newspapers in years.

Likewise. I kind of felt like saying "I'll miss all the same stuff I missed already 10 years ago, like investigative reporting." But now I can't even remember if they were doing that 10 years ago.

Re: When newspapers are gone, what will you miss?

#25

Post by Locke »

I'll miss the quiet "me time" of reading the newspaper in pyjamas in the morning, or at a restaurant on my lunch break (not in pyjamas).

I'll miss the local sports coverage, box scores, etc. All of this is online, more or less, but it's just not the same.

I'll miss the local news. Our local newspaper plays a valuable role as watchdog. They recently brought down a corrupt mayor, for example. But even the mundane news is useful: road construction, a new restaurant opening, what's playing at the local theatre, etc.

But, I was raised in a home where both my mom and dad read the newspaper everyday. So, I've been reading the newspaper for almost my entire life. Whenever I move, I leave one local newspaper behind and start reading a new one. It gives me a sense of place. A sense of community.

So it's hard for me to imagine a world without newspapers. Sadly, it appears to be inevitable. My local paper recently announced that they'll be cutting home delivery to 3 days per week...

Re: When newspapers are gone, what will you miss?

#26

Post by davi »

Locke wrote: post #25

I'll miss the quiet "me time" of reading the newspaper in pyjamas in the morning, or at a restaurant on my lunch break (not in pyjamas). I'll miss the local sports coverage, box scores, etc. All of this is online, more or less, but it's just not the same. I'll miss the local news. Our local newspaper plays a valuable role as watchdog. They recently brought down a corrupt mayor, for example. But even the mundane news…

Re: local news, here's an example of a local paper doing quite nicely:

http://www.7dvt.com/about-us

Like your local paper, this one isn't a daily. I think this could be a trend. Local papers will be weeklies, and they'll continue to exist. The switch from daily to weekly will be stressful.

(Related submission to HN, didn't get traction when posted, but gives a little more context: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=431498)

Re: When newspapers are gone, what will you miss?

#27

Post by jsteele »

mdasen wrote: post #8

Being able to read news on the subway where there is no wireless access for my phone. Getting a wider net of news. Maybe others read more broad news online, but mine tends to be filtered down a lot and so I lose out on certain local stories and stories that I might not otherwise be interested in, but seem worth reading after I've read them as a captive audience of their editing.

look into caching rss readers. They're very nice.

Re: When newspapers are gone, what will you miss?

#29

Post by gills »

There seems to be some confusion between the concept of 'newspapers' and 'news printed on paper.' This post jumps between talking about gasping for air under huge debt and tree farmers going out of business.

The only thing I will miss from 'news printed on paper' is the crossword puzzle. My grandmother would miss the obituaries.

I am confident that the news organizations which do a good job of keeping government in check will survive, though the delivery medium will likely become entirely electronic.

Re: When newspapers are gone, what will you miss?

#30

Post by biohacker42 »

manmanic wrote: post #10

The only newspaper I would miss is The Economist - global, comprehensive, opinionated (for good or bad), analysis in depth. But I won't have to miss it, since The Economist is doing very well, probably for precisely the same reasons that so many people like me would miss it...

The Economist is doing well I believe, as is the Atlantic monthly.

People are willing to pay for quality opinion.

People are also willing to pay for late breaking news from the AP and Bloomberg.

In addition to the option of paying for late breaking news, TV and radio both give it away for free.

The papers are just middle men. They add nothing of value to the AP feed that they just regurgitate.

And their editorial work is not anywhere near as good as that of the Economist or the Atlantic.

They add nothing of value.

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