Sunday Business
I’m one of the few people in my condo building of maybe 30 units that still gets a daily paper.
It’s the Wall Street Journal and every time I think about canceling my wonderful wife talks me out of it because I like it, the whole family finds occasional articles they really enjoy, I love the bumped-up weekend edition which I can dive into Saturday or save as a treat for Sunday morning, and in our leafy nice neighborhood, the paper lady delivers the paper literally to my door.
Yes, she gets a nice Christmas bonus. I hope others do the same in appreciation; my head count of newspaper readers in the building is at a half dozen or some, with some Sunday papers and others our local weekly town paper.
Why so few? The decline of paper papers is of course not new. The expense is surely part of it when there is so much free news streaming and on line. Also, I think a lot of the content in many products is just plain weak. The Chicago Tribune barely has anything worth reading. “In the old days” when I was at the top of my game in PR, both the Sunday Tribune and the Sunday New York Times were high-value targets. The Sunday Business section of the NYT was a must-read for me. Today, it’s hardly worth the bother. Sad.
In contrast, the WSJ is well worth the expense and time spent reading. And for a real treat I’ll get the weekend Financial Times which has a great magazine and great sections for business news, politics, home and decorating, fashions, entertainment and culture. It seems be in the mainstream of the EU, which is good to track.
I’m sure (well, somewhat sure) that my two faves are not the only great reads out there. I skim Le Monde’s English language version on line and it seems to have strong timely content (if left-wing). Historically, the LA Times has been solid, and from what I see online, that seems to still be the case, too.
Beyond the expense, though, I think part of the issue with subscriptions and reading is that to really get something out of these papers, you need time. That means commuting time on a train or at-home time in mornings and weekends. We are all so rushed, time is a precious commodity.
But for now, I intend to support my local home delivery person who is as reliable as a metronome, and to continue reading the few fine newspapers that still exist.