Does anyone actually buy a newspaper any more?
Discussion
Wacky Racer said:
As per thread title 
I'm an avid follower of news, current affairs and football, but I don't think I have bought a newspaper in over ten years.
I just look online and hey presto!
Even my local rag has gone down from about fifty pages to sixteen, (It used to be full of estate agents adverts in the middle)
I really used to look forward to The Manchester Evening News dropping through the letter box, they used to advertise on TV "A friend dropping in".
I went to waitrose the other week. I'm an avid follower of news, current affairs and football, but I don't think I have bought a newspaper in over ten years.
I just look online and hey presto!
Even my local rag has gone down from about fifty pages to sixteen, (It used to be full of estate agents adverts in the middle)
I really used to look forward to The Manchester Evening News dropping through the letter box, they used to advertise on TV "A friend dropping in".
Plenty of affluent pensioners buying the Mail.
I'm going to make a wild prediction here:
Newspapers (and other print media such as Magazines) will make a small comeback. They will obviously never make a comeback to pre-internet levels, nowhere near, but I think circulation of certain newspapers will rise again.
Look at what happened in 2007 when e-readers/Kindle were released. Everyone said the bookshop was dead and buried. There was no reason for anyone to have to buy, carry, or store physical books anymore. It was a revolution. Books would go the way of CD/Tape/Vinyl. Thousands of books on one slim device. All of a sudden e-readers were everywhere, on holiday, on the beach, on public transport, and at home.
Fast forward 17 years, and people are abandoning e-readers, and bookshops have never been busier. 669 million physical printed books were sold in the UK in 2023, the highest number ever. I rarely see an e-reader these days, everyone on the Tube/train/cafe or elsewhere are all reading books.
People seem to be getting sick of looking at everything on a screen.
Newspapers (and other print media such as Magazines) will make a small comeback. They will obviously never make a comeback to pre-internet levels, nowhere near, but I think circulation of certain newspapers will rise again.
Look at what happened in 2007 when e-readers/Kindle were released. Everyone said the bookshop was dead and buried. There was no reason for anyone to have to buy, carry, or store physical books anymore. It was a revolution. Books would go the way of CD/Tape/Vinyl. Thousands of books on one slim device. All of a sudden e-readers were everywhere, on holiday, on the beach, on public transport, and at home.
Fast forward 17 years, and people are abandoning e-readers, and bookshops have never been busier. 669 million physical printed books were sold in the UK in 2023, the highest number ever. I rarely see an e-reader these days, everyone on the Tube/train/cafe or elsewhere are all reading books.
People seem to be getting sick of looking at everything on a screen.
Mont Blanc said:
iphonedyou said:
FT Weekend every weekend in life. Times during the week if I can.
So yes, definitely! I'm 37 for what that's worth. Online lacks tactility.
Same!So yes, definitely! I'm 37 for what that's worth. Online lacks tactility.
I'm 'only' 40, and yet I always buy FT Weekend as I find it excellent, and occasionally The Times during the week, but not as often as I would like.
I also like to grab the free London papers when I see them, as a quick, easy, daily read: Evening Standard, City AM, and City Matters.
I just love the feel and experience of an actual newspaper. I treat it as a luxury, in a world of endless scrolling of news on my phone. There is just something really nice about sitting with a cup of coffee and a newspaper.
Not sure it counts as a newspaper per se, but I have a subscription to Private Eye which I enjoy reading religiously.
p1doc said:
nicanary said:
Sunday morning with a broadsheet and endless coffee - best time of the week.
same for me with coffee replaced by cigar-definitely best time of week especially now sunnyI do read the FT online but prefer the 'e-paper' version to just online articles. Rarely read it at weekends though, perhaps I should!
Without real newspapers, on what would I polish my shoes?!
JagYouAre said:
I have Times digital sub and years ago they started sending me a vouchers for the print Sunday Times which I occasionally buy and enjoy reading, like you I find the experience better than reading online. I find if I read online I tend to get wrapped up in the comments and spend as much or more time reading that (mostly) nonsense than reading the actual news!
I do read the FT online but prefer the 'e-paper' version to just online articles. Rarely read it at weekends though, perhaps I should!
Without real newspapers, on what would I polish my shoes?!
Laughing because I do exactly the same with my old newspapers I do read the FT online but prefer the 'e-paper' version to just online articles. Rarely read it at weekends though, perhaps I should!
Without real newspapers, on what would I polish my shoes?!
I keep a small pile of them in a cupboard to polish my shoes on Totally agree about ending up getting stuck reading the comments when I read online. I find myself sucked into reading the arguing and commentary that follows every online article, especially on social media, and waste more time on that than the articles.
It is somewhat relaxing and a de-toxifying to simply read an article on paper.
Without real newspapers, on what would I polish my shoes?!
And newspaper is still the best medium for cleaning car windows.
Now I have retired, I can enjoy reading my newspaper in the morning over breakfast and a couple of cups of coffee.
Then I can pass it on to others that can use it to help light their fires for winter heating.
No, with one exception. Very significant news pieces. For illustration, I have in the loft in clear A4 sleeves newspapers of The day after the twin towers, Concorde crashing, the Queens death, The kings coronation, Princess Dianas accident, etc etc. IE, historic events of significance.
Growing up I only ever bought News of the World on a Sunday for the football.
Then this guy would give me all the Football Italia news from the papers on the weekend as it was really big when it was on Channel 4 at the time.
Nowadays only time I'll read one is if I'm going somewhere on a train and there's a spare Metro lying about.
Then this guy would give me all the Football Italia news from the papers on the weekend as it was really big when it was on Channel 4 at the time.
Nowadays only time I'll read one is if I'm going somewhere on a train and there's a spare Metro lying about.
ThingsBehindTheSun said:
I am 50, I don't think I have purchased a paper for over 20 years. I remember back in the day coming home from a Saturday night in London and buying the News of the world first edition at Waterloo station.
.
I’d forgotten about that! Thought it was amazing at the time. Sundays news on a SATURDAY!!! Seemed to fit perfectly with being a young city boy in the 80’s. .
RJO said:
Without real newspapers, on what would I polish my shoes?!
And newspaper is still the best medium for cleaning car windows.
Now I have retired, I can enjoy reading my newspaper in the morning over breakfast and a couple of cups of coffee.
Then I can pass it on to others that can use it to help light their fires for winter heating.
Exceptionally valid points!And newspaper is still the best medium for cleaning car windows.
Now I have retired, I can enjoy reading my newspaper in the morning over breakfast and a couple of cups of coffee.
Then I can pass it on to others that can use it to help light their fires for winter heating.
Plus, the weekend papers (if you get them) often have a number of sections - although last Saturday's copy of The Times was a poorer version of what I had been expecting.
Too much of the papers is given over to stuff that is printed and not worth the time to look at it - of course, this is how they cover some/the majority of their costs, but it means a 50 page bundle only has about 10 pages worth reading.
Although, the rest is still good for the uses as RJO pointed out.
CardinalFang said:
I’d forgotten about that! Thought it was amazing at the time. Sundays news on a SATURDAY!!! Seemed to fit perfectly with being a young city boy in the 80’s.
In my first job with a fully expensed company car I used to drive to Paddington station on a Saturday night to buy the first editions. I subscribed to the FT Weekend edition for a year but upon renewal it was only £50 more for weekday editions as well so was a no brainer. They're delivered in a biodegradable bag which is perfect for the food waste caddy.
Mont Blanc said:
I'm going to make a wild prediction here:
Newspapers (and other print media such as Magazines) will make a small comeback. They will obviously never make a comeback to pre-internet levels, nowhere near, but I think circulation of certain newspapers will rise again.
Look at what happened in 2007 when e-readers/Kindle were released. Everyone said the bookshop was dead and buried. There was no reason for anyone to have to buy, carry, or store physical books anymore. It was a revolution. Books would go the way of CD/Tape/Vinyl. Thousands of books on one slim device. All of a sudden e-readers were everywhere, on holiday, on the beach, on public transport, and at home.
Fast forward 17 years, and people are abandoning e-readers, and bookshops have never been busier. 669 million physical printed books were sold in the UK in 2023, the highest number ever. I rarely see an e-reader these days, everyone on the Tube/train/cafe or elsewhere are all reading books.
People seem to be getting sick of looking at everything on a screen.
When I left my safe job to start my own book publishing business I was told in no uncertain terms by some 'experts' that I was more than foolish, I wouldn't last five mins because the (physical) 'book is dead, no future in it. And they also told me that the 'paperless office' was imminent. That wasn't in 2007, that was in 1990.Newspapers (and other print media such as Magazines) will make a small comeback. They will obviously never make a comeback to pre-internet levels, nowhere near, but I think circulation of certain newspapers will rise again.
Look at what happened in 2007 when e-readers/Kindle were released. Everyone said the bookshop was dead and buried. There was no reason for anyone to have to buy, carry, or store physical books anymore. It was a revolution. Books would go the way of CD/Tape/Vinyl. Thousands of books on one slim device. All of a sudden e-readers were everywhere, on holiday, on the beach, on public transport, and at home.
Fast forward 17 years, and people are abandoning e-readers, and bookshops have never been busier. 669 million physical printed books were sold in the UK in 2023, the highest number ever. I rarely see an e-reader these days, everyone on the Tube/train/cafe or elsewhere are all reading books.
People seem to be getting sick of looking at everything on a screen.
I shut up shop, so to speak, retiring last year after 33 yrs! I could actually have continued but you have to call a halt at some point. .
Mont Blanc said:
Granadier said:
The other aspect is local papers, which have really died.
Local papers have become an embarrassment in most places. They have been merged/sold/merged/downsized, until there is practically nothing left. These days, it is often just a couple of downtrodden reporters covering an entire County, and the same content is simply regurgitated and duplicated over several different local titles. Much of their news is simply bought in from national agency press, and pasted into their own work.They seem more interested in chasing clicks and views on social media, but their posted articles are often widely mocked in the comments for being badly written and littered with grammatical and spelling mistakes.
Some titles seem trapped between offering content for free, and keeping the views coming, or charging a few quid a month for a subscription, which doesn't seem to work either.
Mont Blanc said:
Fast forward 17 years, and people are abandoning e-readers, and bookshops have never been busier. 669 million physical printed books were sold in the UK in 2023, the highest number ever. I rarely see an e-reader these days, everyone on the Tube/train/cafe or elsewhere are all reading books.
People seem to be getting sick of looking at everything on a screen.
I think there is something in that - I enjoy reading my "physical" copy of The Week much more than the digital editions of magazines I read online (for free via PressReader)People seem to be getting sick of looking at everything on a screen.
With books though I'm not so sure - I much prefer my Kindle to a "physical" book - far easier to carry about and the lit screen means I can read in low light without disturbing my partner.
My local paper the Aberdeen Press & Journal still has a circulation of just under 23,000 which I am pretty sure is the highest for a regional newspaper in Great Britain. Not bad for a newspaper so legendarily insular that when the Titanic sank it carried the headline “Local Man Lost At Sea”.
The Dundee Courier still manages over 17,000.
Latest figures for Yorkshire Post are 10,000 and Eastern Daily Press 13,000.
The Dundee Courier still manages over 17,000.
Latest figures for Yorkshire Post are 10,000 and Eastern Daily Press 13,000.
Granadier said:
The other aspect is local papers, which have really died. In the 80s/90s, there were I think four local papers covering my home area.
Back in the 80s and 90s my father used to buy the local paper every week and I grew up reading it. I havent even seen a copy since the late 90s and the circulation figures according to ABC are now 688.688! it is made up of 649 single copies and 39 subscriptions, how is this even viable?
Our lovely neighbor often comes back on Saturdays with some newspapers in her hands. I don't remember the last time I bought one. I think she is having busted newspaper , if i recognized that correct. My father used to read it too long time ago. Now he is all about tv
Edited by alexiv on Tuesday 21st May 23:49
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