When was the last time you actually held, read, or subscribed to the newspaper?

Held – this morning, as my roommate gave me a page of apartment listings she’d circled, for me to call.
Read – unless you count those three specific circled listings, probably 2–3 years
Subscribed – I subscribed to my original hometown’s newspaper when I moved to college, to reduce homesickness. That was in 1997. None since then.

I read the Sunday paper just two days ago. I read mostly local news, the human interest stories and check the obituaries, but I get the majority of my world and US news from the Internet. I don’t subscribe, I just buy a Sunday paper every weekned. The newspaper will die out with the older generation, and the youngsters (children of the Y generation) will soon be asking, “What’s a newspaper, Daddy?”

I hope the newspaper doesn’t die out. It’s a Sunday ritual for me to read the paper and drink coffee in the morning. I also pick up a local paper whenever I travel to get a feel for the community.

Hmm, ‘bout a half hour ago, when I sat down at my husband’s parents’ house to eat. It was a local Rockford, IL newspaper and I read it cover to cover. As I was reading it, I mentioned the fact that this particular newspaper puts down the numbers of its writers and its newsroom right on the front page whereas you rarely get that with NYC newspapers. Then my husband and his father got into a convoluted discussion about the very thing you mention: how the printed word is giving way to the internerds. Interesting. At home we do not subsribe to newspapers but we do to magazines. Also when I’m working, I read about 3 small, free newspapers a day – they’re handed out in the city.

Currently subscribed, read it every Sunday when it’s delivered

On Saturday I bought a paper to read on the train.
I’ve never subscribed to a newspaper.

Earlier today at the library – local rags and the NYT. Some junk at the check-out line at the market.

No news is good news.

This morning. I’ve been a subscriber to the Sacramento Bee for years.

this morning ;). there’s something nice about waking up in the morning, having a cup of coffee, smoking a cigarette, and reading to sports section out on your back porch.

I use the shopper’s guide and the coupon-clipper’s paper to line Milo’s carrier case.

This morning and every morning. I eat my breakfast with The New York Times. I will be devastated if it goes out of print. (I read it online too sometimes, but it’s not the same experience.)

I subscribe to both the NY Times Local Edition and the BBC News World Edition online. I read the headlines for both almost every day, and usually read a few articles that grab my attention. If I have a lot of time, I’ll go into one or both and dig around in the science, technology, or arts news.

When I was in college we had free papers (A newsbox each of the Boston Globe, the NY Times and USA Today) and I’d occasionally read the NY Times in paper form over breakfast if they still had copies. When I visit my parents I’ll read the actual paper copy of the local paper that they subscribe to every morning.

I don’t think that newspapers per se will die out, but I think many of them might go to online-only. I wouldn’t mind. It feels a little wasteful to me to get anything in paper form. Especially things like bills, where you can get email reminders to pay them – why not just go paperless? I’m too nervous to mail checks anyway!

I read the paper daily and have a subscription.

This morning, all three.

I’ve never subscribed but it’s been almost ten years since I picked one up to read it.

I’ve been getting my news online since 2000 (starting with boston.com – Boston Globe). While getting the Sunday Globe was a nice tradition as a kid, I don’t miss it.

Between the Globe & NY Times online and my AP News app for iPhone, I’m pretty much covered.

I also agree that newspapers as we know them will go away. News and journalism will remain, of course – just the distribution media will evolve (as has already begun).

Now the publishers just have to figure out how to make money as folks seem very reluctant to start paying an online subscription fee for what has been free thus far.

We get the Sunday Chicago Tribune. I used it yesterday. I say “used” because I needed to stuff some padding into a box I was shipping. Try that with an Internet news service!

And then, there are birdcage and hamster owners.

We subscribe to the two local papers & the Des Moines Sunday paper. So we read & hold a newspaper every day. Yes, you can get the news online, but there’s just something about a real newspaper.

I held and read the newspaper this morning. It was my local community newspaper, and yes, there was news of interest to me. I haven’t held the large newspaper in several weeks, and that was only to get the Sunday extras (magazine, comics, coupons, etc). The other large metro newspaper in our area died several months ago. It had been months since I had read either. I get all the news I need from headlines and hourly reports. If I need to inquire further I can investigate online.

I also agree the major market print news industry is on its way out. Print journalism in general is evolving. There are still magazines that have good subscription rates and enjoy popularity, but even these are nurturing an online presence that will continue to grow as the print presence shrinks.

I think the evolution is in progress, and the online versions will continue to grow their advertising revenues to replace the subscription revenues.

Every day, it is one of the first things I do.

We get the weekend paper. It’s just something I really enjoy on the weekends – sit in my office, read the paper. Sundays are good for the entire family, even my son loves the comics. :)

Every sunday I hold and read the whole thing.

Just this morning. I’m suscribed to one newspaper and one news magazine. I get the newspaper every day and the magazine every two weeks. Also my father brings me another different newspaper from work, because they are suscribed to there.

My morning routine is to let the dog out, get my paper, eat my pnut butter toast and read the newspaper. I would be lost without it.

I have always subscribed to and read every local paper where I live. I’m considering dropping my subscription to the current one (the Sacramento Bee) because it has become a shadow of a newspaper. There are half pages, and page strips, and single pages, and it’s become impossible to simply hold it and go page by page to read it. The pieces of pages fall out all over the floor, and most of them are 100% advertising. There is page after page of nothing but ads, and very little actual news.

@YARNLADY- Ain’t that the truth. The Bee was really a great paper once.

My buddy is a copy editor at the Modesto Bee and has hung on by the skin of his teeth through multiple layoffs. Publishing is in a world of hurt and the loss of subscribers and ad revenue are at its root. If you love your local paper, stay loyal!

like 1.5 months ago in the train

@PupnTaco- All the Bees (Sacramento, Fresno, & Modesto) began going downhill after Eleanor McClachy died in ‘78. Shortly after, the Sacramento Bee (illegally) broke the mailers and printers unions. After the printer won a court decision against McClachy Co. things began to improve. Then when rival newspaper The Sacramento Union folded the Bee began its slide again. Now, with the state of the newspaper medium, all McClachy newspapers are hanging on by a thread. The Sacramento Bee is focusing attention more and more on Its Sacbee.com site than on its actual newspaper. How sad, but it’s happening all over.

I have seen sections in the newspapers that I read that present a digest version of a report and direct the reader to their internet site for the full story, both in the Bee, and in the San Diego Union-Tribune.

@YARNLADY- You’ll notice more and more stories, even local ones, are being pulled from the Associated Press, and not from Bee reporters. They’ve slowly becoming extinct.

I buy a Sunday paper every week and read it from front to back as long as there are no interruptions. Max & Mollie usually separate it for me by diving under its edges and scooting it all over my bed-top. Bad kitties. :)

Milo here; Your cats can read? I missed something at school apparently.

edit: they’re slowly becoming extinct.

Held: This afternoon at the gym, before I got on the treadmill.

Read: I read the front section and the local section of our local paper today. It took about 5 minutes, but the news that was really important to me was reported during the local news segment on our NPR station. Two days ago I read the entire Austin paper when I was visiting my parents. That took about 30 minutes.

Subscribed: About 7 years ago was when I dropped my subscription. I retired early to take care of my husband and work online and I discovered that the papers just kept building up in heaps, unread. Without a coffee break I never got around to reading it, and without a staff lounge to leave it in for those who didn’t subscribe it just made heaps on the floor.

It is easier to read our local paper online (you don’t get ink all over your fingers), but if you want to see the photos you still have to get the actual paper paper. The photos are not published online.

I held parts of a newspaper several weeks ago when I was using the pages to line the bottom of a bird cage to catch droppings.

The last time I read a newspaper was months ago when someone had brought one to work and I had nothing else to read or do at two o’clock in the morning. It was a generally unsatisfying experience.

I’ve never subscribed to the newspaper.

It’s much easier to get news nowadays from online sources or even television or radio broadcasts. I don’t know if any of those mediums will ever be a catalyst for ending newspapers but I wouldn’t mind saving thousands upon thousands of trees so that news could be delivered in a more environmentally conscious way.

Local this morning, NYT on Sunday. I love a real newpaper.

I haven’t subscribed to one in several years but they are provided free for our guests at work so I read up there and get my fix of inky fingertips while doing crossword.

I get the paper daily. Reading it is one of life’s simple pleasures. (No need for Milk of Magnesia)

I have read all the local dailies for more than fifty years, a habit learned from my parents. My day is not complete until I have read the newspapers and done the Sudoku.

there’s this line that conor oberst directs at newspapers in his song milk thistle that pretty accurately describes why i’ve never been too fond of the newspaper – or the news for that matter – “newspaper, newspaper, can’t take no more, you’re here every morning waiting at my door…and i’m not pretending that it’s all okay, just let me have my coffee before you take away the day.”
also, i can never go through a newspaper neatly. by the time i’ve turned the third page, i’ve got it all crinkly and things fallin’ out everywhere, and ripping pages that didn’t turn quite right…oh what a hassle just to read about everything horrible in the world (and celebrities, of course).

Is the newspaper our last hope for a sense of local community? My feeling is that the great international papers, such as the New York Times, the London Times, the Herald Tribune may not last the 21st century. The same for the national dailies. During the Presidential elections campaign, it was obvious that many newspapers were mouthpieces for special interests. We all noticed the widespread use of the internet for the sharing of news, for propaganda, or just for information. The trend has continued. The papers that are likely to survive are the local news organs, like the Macomb Journal (Ill.), and those that serve populations limited by geography, such as the Daily Gleaner (Jamaica), the Advocate (Barbados), the Trinidad Guardian (which has a centenary in 2017).