Discussion
I worked in print journalism for 15 years and even I rarely buy a paper these days. Occasional Observer on a Sunday and that's about it.
The entire concept is just about dead. The internet has taken the readership away and the resulting loss of revenue has almost destroyed the product, especially locally. You pay more and you get less.
Local weekly I trained on in the 90s sold 25,000 papers a week and made enough money to fund a full-time newsroom of 15 journalists. Now it sells about 8k as its remaining loyal readers literally die off and is thrown together by a staff of two.
The entire concept is just about dead. The internet has taken the readership away and the resulting loss of revenue has almost destroyed the product, especially locally. You pay more and you get less.
Local weekly I trained on in the 90s sold 25,000 papers a week and made enough money to fund a full-time newsroom of 15 journalists. Now it sells about 8k as its remaining loyal readers literally die off and is thrown together by a staff of two.
Nope.
Important to understand that now, more than ever, newspapers are just a business. There's no desire to report accurate news, only to sell newspapers, so they write with that in mind only.
Hence regular stories (for example) about fake 21yr old millionaire Forex trader scammers as fact rather than spending 30 seconds on Google and then digging deeper exposing them as fakes. The former is easier and sells papers, the latter would take effort and wouldn't.
You might have expected it from the Mail, but even the Telegraph ran one recently!
So there is literally no point in buying a newspaper anymore.
Important to understand that now, more than ever, newspapers are just a business. There's no desire to report accurate news, only to sell newspapers, so they write with that in mind only.
Hence regular stories (for example) about fake 21yr old millionaire Forex trader scammers as fact rather than spending 30 seconds on Google and then digging deeper exposing them as fakes. The former is easier and sells papers, the latter would take effort and wouldn't.
You might have expected it from the Mail, but even the Telegraph ran one recently!
So there is literally no point in buying a newspaper anymore.
You can add this to the long list of things that were the norm but now aren't.
I haven't bought a newspaper in 10 years.
I haven't hooked up a landline phone in my house for longer.
Don't remember the last time I used cash to pay for grocery shopping.
I've not printed a boarding pass out in years, I use my phone.
I haven't bought a newspaper in 10 years.
I haven't hooked up a landline phone in my house for longer.
Don't remember the last time I used cash to pay for grocery shopping.
I've not printed a boarding pass out in years, I use my phone.
Mr Peel said:
The entire concept is just about dead. The internet has taken the readership away and the resulting loss of revenue has almost destroyed the product, especially locally. You pay more and you get less.
Local weekly I trained on in the 90s sold 25,000 papers a week and made enough money to fund a full-time newsroom of 15 journalists. Now it sells about 8k as its remaining loyal readers literally die off and is thrown together by a staff of two.
Internet local papers are appallingLocal weekly I trained on in the 90s sold 25,000 papers a week and made enough money to fund a full-time newsroom of 15 journalists. Now it sells about 8k as its remaining loyal readers literally die off and is thrown together by a staff of two.
Some have daft questionnaires to read the content,pop up adverts by the dozen, clear those then get a notifications request,clear that then its the survey and when you finally get to the news content the page is covered in clickbait, and reading them on a mobile device is impossible.
Then you find articles on the front page about bad weather coming or how the motorway near you is closed because of an accident and upon further investigation you find the article was written in 2012!
In answer to the OP, only buy a paper to read on the beach in summer, or read the redtops in the greasy spoon if they have them
I never bought a paper in my life. We used to get the free local paper but that stopped about 3-4 years ago.
The main town newspaper is all online so literally no point in buying it. For national news I use the BBC.
Used to read the DM a bit on line but since they put the adblocker on CBA any more.
The main town newspaper is all online so literally no point in buying it. For national news I use the BBC.
Used to read the DM a bit on line but since they put the adblocker on CBA any more.
J4CKO said:
Do you still buy them ?
Cant remember last time I bought one, noticed when trying to light the fire and no newspaper around to get it going.
Is it just older folk buying them now, I say that being nearly 50 myself by the way.
Haven't bought a paper for many, many years - and barely look at any news other than BBC when it's on - Even then a huge grain of salt is taken. Cant remember last time I bought one, noticed when trying to light the fire and no newspaper around to get it going.
Is it just older folk buying them now, I say that being nearly 50 myself by the way.
bristolracer said:
Internet local papers are appalling
Some have daft questionnaires to read the content,pop up adverts by the dozen, clear those then get a notifications request,clear that then its the survey and when you finally get to the news content the page is covered in clickbait, and reading them on a mobile device is impossible.
Then you find articles on the front page about bad weather coming or how the motorway near you is closed because of an accident and upon further investigation you find the article was written in 2012!
Yep, our local rag in Reading went online and had a busy little page with decent news and lots of locals commenting on their facebook feed. Quality went downhill, then they became 'Berkshire Live' as they merged with other local sites. At the same point the journalism just stopped. It's just rehashed stories from elsewhere in the UK, always starting with 'Not Berkshire, but...' All comments on Facebook are taking the piss out of the journalism. Some have daft questionnaires to read the content,pop up adverts by the dozen, clear those then get a notifications request,clear that then its the survey and when you finally get to the news content the page is covered in clickbait, and reading them on a mobile device is impossible.
Then you find articles on the front page about bad weather coming or how the motorway near you is closed because of an accident and upon further investigation you find the article was written in 2012!
bristolracer said:
Internet local papers are appalling
Some have daft questionnaires to read the content,pop up adverts by the dozen, clear those then get a notifications request,clear that then its the survey and when you finally get to the news content the page is covered in clickbait, and reading them on a mobile device is impossible.
Then you find articles on the front page about bad weather coming or how the motorway near you is closed because of an accident and upon further investigation you find the article was written in 2012!
this in spades ^^^, really boils my piss!!Some have daft questionnaires to read the content,pop up adverts by the dozen, clear those then get a notifications request,clear that then its the survey and when you finally get to the news content the page is covered in clickbait, and reading them on a mobile device is impossible.
Then you find articles on the front page about bad weather coming or how the motorway near you is closed because of an accident and upon further investigation you find the article was written in 2012!
My dad gets the weekend papers (Saturday bellylaugh and Sunday Times) and the mail on Wednesday (typical pensioner I guess). I've not bought a paper in years
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