Would you miss newspapers if they stopped publishing?
I might be sorry for starting this topic in the Talk of the Day. But we’ll see. I predict I will get a lot of people ranting about the “liberal bias” in the media. I’m hopeful that regardless of how you feel about the Post-Dispatch, you might appreciate the role newspapers try to play in our democracy and respond from that point of view.
But, as you have heard, the news out of the newspaper industry hasn’t been great lately.
- The Chicago Tribune’s parent Tribune Co. filed for bankruptcy protection.
- The New York Times Company is borrowing about a quarter billion bucks against its new Manhattan building.
- The Detroit newspapers — The Free-Press and the News — might cut home delivery most days.
- The Christian Science Monitor has announced it will stop printing a print newspaper, just as the Capital Times in Madison, Wisc., has.
And those are just some of the relatively recent developments. My colleague, Erica Smith, has documented the loss of jobs at news organizations on her blog, Paper Cuts.
Now, if you’re here, reading this blog, it tells me that you care about news. Otherwise, you’d be wasting your time doing something else from your office computer right now. So is news important to you? Would you miss the newspaper if it stopped publishing?
Kurt is the director of social media for the Post-Dispatch, where he has worked since August 2002. He's been a journalist since 1982, covering municipal government, courts, education and two hurricanes as a reporter before becoming an editor. 
There will be a day when I stop subscribing. When that will be, I don’t know. My problem isn’t the editorial content (if you disagree with ‘em, just disagree) - my problem is the paper’s value. The number of pages decline, but not the price. You want more subscribers, don’t burden us with the cost of the paper’s production, put the burden on advertisers.
One of the major problems that I see with the post dispatch (and since I live in St Louis that is “the newspaper”) is that in an attempt to be lean they have cut a level of editors out of the chain. The post is now filled with errors that if there was still an editor, would be caught. Examples of this include the frequent substitution of: there for their, Were for where, and the other day I saw “an dour” instead of “and our” these are the simple errors that drive people away. Even in the lead in to this discussion you left out a chunk of info in the line about the christian science monitor and the capital times. I realize mistakes happen, that’s why we have the delete key and erasers. But when I am paying to read the written word I at least want it written correctly.
I enjoy reading the post on line.. I’m not a ‘tree hugger’ but the sight of all that newspaper around the house makes me feel wasteful.. So I read the paper on-line.. I know that’s bad for the good folks at the paper, and I especially enjoy Bill McClellan, and it would sadden me if the paper folded.. Perhaps you folks need a bailout..
Thanks for the heads-up, Paul. It’s fixed.
I would definately miss the paper. I grew up with it in my house and reading certain parts with my Dad, now that I am a Dad, I look forward to those times of sitting around with the paper. Also, I read the paper at work during breaks. It is my main source of news information, as I work crazy hours and may not be able to see one of the three or four news broadcasts (which they only give you a little bit of the news, and sometimes it seems like they get the news from the newspaper as they repeat sometimes almost exactly what I had read that morning.) I don’t usually read news online, just because who wants to sit in front of a computer that long and mess with that……the more that I am writing, the more I am realizing how MUCH I would miss the paper!!!!!!!!!!
I might miss SOME newspapers if they stopped publishing…
…but not The St. Louis Pus-Discharge.
This is not about the PD but is about the Journal that I think is owned by the PD. Where I live, they are trying to sell the Journal to you as opposed to giving it to you. It doesn’t appear to be working. Everyone that we get says it the last on. That has been going on for months. I won’t subscribe to it because the people in the neighborhood will just take if from my yard while I’m at work. They get the coupons out of the Journal. One of my neighbors has paid for the paper and it is always gone when he gets home to get it. I will miss the Journal more than I would miss the PD.
The majority of comments here seem to mention the liberal bias of the Post Dispatch…yet it seems to fall on deaf ears.
I have learned to disregard the editorials and skim over the political stories since they are typically one-sided. Since I have learned to play this game, I can enjoy the paper and would very much miss it. There is nothing better than sitting down on a Saturday and Sunday morning to read the paper along with a good cup of coffee. Of course, I don’t trust much of the news that comes out of the Post Dispatch and get other sources of news to help desseminate the real news..but I do enjoy the peace and quiet.
One more comment, I prefer to read newspapers wherever I go as opposed to turning on the computer in the morning to get my news. I can generally get the political slant of the newspaper by reading the first couple of stories and can then put the rest of the paper in perspective. Newspapers just feel “right”…
I could do without the ink that gets all over everything. Lots of times I’ve wanted to pick up a newspaper to read, but won’t because it will dirty my hands, clothes and anything else it touches.