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One of my morning rituals is opening my apartment door early in the morning to find my copy of the day's "Chicago Tribune." Arranging for delivery to my new home was one of my first acts after moving here. I can't imagine life without a daily newspaper; I expect to find it at my door seven days a week. I can't imagine a world without newspapers. So why did the "Chicago Sun-Times" recently file for bankruptcy protection and the "Tribune" downsize both its publication and its staff? A few major newspapers have closed down, or gone strictly to on-line production, or decreased their frequency of publication. I guess the current economic situation and the decrease in advertising revenue are partially responsible, but it seems to me that newspaper popularity was gradually decreasing even during the boom years. It's fashionable to blame the Internet, and it's true that news is available there. But avid computer-user though I am, I can't relax at the keyboard with a large cup of coffee. Somehow, I don't enjoy online reading as much as actually turning the pages of a real printed newspaper. One of the minor selling points for my senior residence is that its web site makes it unnecessary to purchase newspapers. The site does offer newspaper headlines with links to the stories, but the papers themselves offer so much more! I don't find obscure human interest stories listed on our web site, and follow-up stories are often missing. There's no chance that I'll cancel my newspaper subscription. TV has been blamed, too. But for me, the news programs seem to move too fast; they don't allow time to digest an interesting story. The accompanying sound bites are short and unsatisfying, and the news people always seem to be pushing their time deadlines. There's nothing relaxing about TV news programs. Then there are those quirky human interest stories. Even those that mainly serve as fillers for the page often fascinate me. Often, I'm most interested in the background and the personal suffering behind a news story, and those short TV one-sentence interviews don't help much. You can't beat a newspaper for perusing a story in depth. That goes for investigative reporting, too. The aftermath of a scandal or tragedy is more likely to be crowded out of the time-sensitive prime-time news broadcast than from a newspaper. Have people stopped being able to afford newspaper subscriptions? Undoubtedly some have, but I just read that sales of Harlequin Romance books are up. Perhaps escape from reality is more attractive than today's news. But too many people today seem to want their news and their entertainment brief and escapist. Is "happy talk" TV news coming back? I empathize with the newspaper women and former newspaper women who are fellow members of the Illinois Woman's Press Association and the National Federation of Press Women. I haven't been a newspaper woman since my college days, but I guess I am, in a sense, a press woman, even as a less than well-known writer. I'm past the age of looking for work, too, but I can imagine the anguish of losing a coveted newspaper job--or a newspaper. Perhaps I'm just an old woman lamenting changes in the world, but I think there's still time to save newspapers. With all the competing news sources today, newspapers can better emphasize stories in depth and their human interest angles. Try sitting in your favorite chair with a cup of your favorite coffee and enjoy. If you're a "Just the facts" person, perhaps you need to wake up and smell the roses--and the coffee. How about you? How do you feel about newspapers? |
