My friend, The Foggy Dew, and I have had a number of, ahem, spirited discussions about the future of journalism and the necessity of newspapers. Perhaps the best argument I can make in favor of reading actual newspapers is that you occasionally read an article that caught your eye on paper but might never have caught your mouse on a computer screen.
This Sunday I came to the section of the Washington Post that I normally ignore – wedding/engagement/anniversary announcements (high society porn just isn’t my kinda thing, but I do think that Diamond & Golden Anniversaries are newsworthy.) The Post has added a more expansive feature to this section, On Love, that tells the story of one couple each week.
By Marvin Joseph - The Washington Post
Something about this picture made me read the accompanying story.
As I reached the end of the story, the woman sitting across from me on the Metro offered me a tissue. I was grateful for that small act of kindness and civility and very grateful for a real newspaper in my hand.
I feel like this random story of mine is semi-related, although somewhat gross. Accept my apologies ahead of time…my dog is having some…erm…digestive issues which has facilitated putting down newspapers at night b/c she doesn’t always get me up when she needs to go out. Last night, after being gotten out of bed unpleasantly on the later side of the evening, I was laying out Sunday’s paper on the floor. I was not happy at all and stressed that my dog wasn’t feeling well. But in the middle of being pissed/stressed, I stopped with the Travel section because of a really cool picture and a few lines that talked about an inn/B&B that has little light pollution so it’s great for star viewing. I saved that bit of the paper to read when I was more awake. I never would have come across that on my own on the WashPost.com or even gone looking for stargazer friendly hotels.
Maybe it’s not a *great* story per se, but it felt appropriate considering the topic. Sorta. Or maybe that I’m tired has clouded my judgment.
Exactly appropriate – we need real newspapers and finding the random story we would never see online is but one of the reasons they’re so important.
I get the Post delivered every morning. It’s my routine and I wouldn’t my enjoy Sunday mornings with coffee and a screen.
That said, the Post redesign is dreadful. Just awful. Like a low-rent Wall Street Journal, complete with cheesy illustrations of the columnists.
Don’t even get me started on that garish, journalistic version of bordello decor make-over they’ve done. I am really not happy.
Every paper has at least one gem buried beneath all of the other crap. This was a particularly good one.
Thank you, and I like to think that there are more than one gem per day – that would be too depressing.
Interesting that one medium made the story possible to find (paper) and another made it possible to share (electronic).
That is the lovely part of the electronic age – the reach, the interconnectedness of a divergent world. But I will always want my paper.
oh, that IS a sweet article. and it’s funny – i NEVER look at that section online, but ALWAYS read it in a real paper.
One without the other leaves us all a bit poorer.
That story really was beautiful. Thanks for sharing it. I don’t get the Post, and so, probably wouldn’t have come across it.
My pleasure to share it.
way to make a girl cry.
thanks for sharing this.
Yeah, I cried too, but at least you did it in privacy. I was on the Subway.
look at you, you big softie! Must be due to attending the big pbandtuna wedding event!
I would dispute any contention of the existence of a softer side of my gruff exterior.
Thank you for sharing that story! What a great way to break a morning of monotony in a cubicle.
I am completely in favor of real, paper newspapers. I love them, you can hold them and fold them up and take them with you, read them outside – I’m not one to be attached 24/7 to an electronic device. Staring at a computer screen makes me dizzy, and trying to sort through an online newssite with thousands of options and ads makes me even dizzier.
I do think that one day we will all have a Kindle like device that we function as a newspaper – but we are a ways away from the technology being low enough in cost to for that day to be anytime soon.
That was a beautiful story – and an excellent argument for reading physical newspapers. Thank you for sharing this.
It was my pleasure to share. I don’t expect anyone who doesn’t read newspapers now to suddenly start, but I wish they all would.
[...] Style. The stories of meeting and courtship quickly became mandatory reading for me. I have blogged about being affected by that section, been frustrated by stories that made me think “Why the fuck did they getting married?” and [...]