10 reasons to still buy a quality newspaper

IHT, originally uploaded by noodlepie.

What with this summer's stateside massacre and the recent carnage in Britain I thought I'd attempt to justify my recent subscription to the print edition of a daily newspaper. Here are (nearly) ten reasons why you too should subscribe to a daily deadwoood in the digital age,

• It's cheap. The home delivered version of the IHT costs me less per day than the price of one espresso. It's not quite free, but it's darn close and there's too much free anyhow.

• Beginning, a middle and an end. Newspapers are designed to be read cover to cover. Newspaper websites are not. Simply put - in one hour you'll learn more about what's going on in the world in print than you will do on screen.

• Click free. I don' t have to log on, click, scroll, click again, forget the page I was looking at, search history, consult RSS feeds blah di blah di blah. And anyway, whoever heard of RSI from reading print?

• No comments. OK, there's a letters page, but print keeps the psychopaths outside where they should be.

• Feel good factor. Buying a newspaper these days feels a bit like charity. I'd hate to pick up my daily and read reports of hacks succumbing to hypotherimia this winter just because I let my subs slip.

• UGC? What's that? You won't find any of that nonsense in the print edition.

• Safety first. I don't have to worry about spilling my espresso on a piece of paper.

• It's portable, lightweight, lend friendly, recyclable, handy for lighting fires and keeping things clean at impromptu toilet stops and you can take it to the pub without looking like a knob as you scour the skirting boards for a power socket while simultaneously whinging about the lack of wifi.

• It is a thing of beauty. Done well print looks incredible. It feels and it smells of ink and industry not silicon and circuits.

The crux of it is; print can steer you towards stuff you wouldn't otherwise encounter, whereas the online experience is designed to help you avoid stuff. This has only gotten worse in recent times with every other online newspaper giving you the opportunity to make your very own "My News page". Yes, yes, I know, you get to the news you want quicker, but I can't help thinking this drive towards speed, efficiency and personalisation is sometimes over emphasized especially when the news you need is not always the news you want.

Comments

[Charles Frith]

It's tough as hell to comment on your blog from China but I just want to suggest that it should be titled 10 reasons to buy a 'quality' newspaper. The rest should be super taxed.

[Posted by 221.221.9.33 via http://algart.net/ww This is added while posting a message to avoid misuse.
Try: http://webwarper.net/webwarper.exe Example of viewing: http://webwarper.net/ww/~av/lycos.com ]

Good point. Will change forthwith. I thought China had relaxed control on Internet access for the Olympics... Guess not :(

[Jonny]

I wish I had time for an expresso and a good read of the paper each morning! Definately agree though - even though I read and re read the front page of the Guardian's site a few times a day when bored at work its nothing like settling in for some quality time with a good paper and it is very easy to miss stories.

It also seems to be very rare that any of the more in-depth articles on far flung places are on the front page of a website.

[James]

I wish I had time for an expresso and a good read of the paper each morning! Definately agree though - even though I read and re read the front page of the Guardian's site a few times a day when bored at work its nothing like settling in for some quality time with a good paper and it is very easy to miss stories. It also seems to be very rare that any of the more in-depth articles on far flung places are on the front page of a website.

[Graham]

James/Jonny - bit sluggish on the old reply thing... Yeah - I try to read the paper every morning, bit in the middle of the day and again at night. I work from home so may make that easier. You do find you have to make time for it and, yeah, much of the time there is no time...