Newspaper – To Buy or Not to Buy

I’ve written earlier in this blog that mine will be the last generation to read the newspaper; something that would have seemed absurd just a few years ago.  I still get the daily Worcester newspaper.  It’s part of my early morning routine – Buddy and I walk down to the road and pick up the paper.  Well to be honest, I’m the only one walking – Buddy is charging around investigating the inroads squirrels have made in his absence and generously watering sundry plants.  I actually like reading the paper while everything else in the house is quiet (except Buddy).  The bill for the newspaper arrived yesterday and I’m really struggling with whether to continue or nor.  This has happened each of the last few times the bill has arrived.  As with most people I get a lot of my news from the internet and television.  While I bemoan this transition and the superficiality of a lot of the news transmitted this way I think I have to bow to the future.  I’ve also noted a steady decline in the quality of the writing in newspapers.  I think a lot of the best writers read the writing on the wall years ago and departed for outlets with a more promising future.  I know my brother in law did so.  He was the editor for a respected sports section in a large Metropolitan newspaper and had stated for years he was in a dying industry.  A couple of years ago he left for an internet sports site and has never been professionally happier – he feels relevant again.  The writers or more probably the editors left behind do not seem up the task of carrying the interest of readers such as me.  I worry about this because democracy depends on a well informed electorate and if we are getting our news only from TV and the internets – we could be headed for danger.  People would actually have to seek out the news instead of reading as part of a morning ritual such as mine.  I have confidence we, as a people, are smart enough to figure out a way to make this work.  I think I’ve made my decision, melancholy though it is.  I’ll miss my daily morning adventures with Buddy but the squirrels certainly won’t.