The morning paper didn't come. Though I walked to the end of the driveway and even up and down the block four times looking for the Monday edition, it wasn't there.
So I was forced to sit with my morning coffee and bagel with nothing new to read. The newspaper was online, and I went to the Web site to see what I was missing, but the experience was not the same. Clicking on a headline and reading a story of interest is just not the same as turning page by page and absorbing a compendium of the day's news. The online edition omits the ads, many of the photographs and graphics and the tactile experience of holding the day's events in your hand.
A newspaper has been a part of my morning routine for my entire adult life. I need the newspaper to get me going in the morning as much as I need the coffee and food that accompany it. On vacation, I have hunted through hotel lobbies and down the street for a newspaper rack. On one occasion several years ago, I subscribed to the local paper for a month (the shortest period allowed) so that I'd be sure to have it for the week I was at the vacation house. It was well worth it.
Without a paper this morning, my wife perused the sections of Sunday's paper she had not read thoroughly yesterday, and I read from a Bible study book that I had left on the kitchen table the night before.
What obituaries of newspapers, sparked by declining advertising sales and stagnant or declining circulation figures, fail to consider is the tactile need dedicated newspaper readers feel for their morning paper. It's a need that online news sites, television or radio cannot fill.
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3 comments:
I know what you mean Hal. I love having a morning paper, but I don't allow myself the time in the morning to sit and read it before I have to hit the road for my commute.
....my morning addiction came when I secured my 1st job at 8 yrs old delivering the N&O. While folding I would catch snippets of state and national news. That became a lifelong habit. I had to beg Mr. Lamm to let me deliver. I lucked out as the experience was a great one for me which lasted until i was 16.
And Tues am was when I missed my paper. Tues am, mind you, an historic election day and the dang N&O didn't even show up. :( I am contemplating whether to drop the subscription because of the lack of newsworthy content the last year. This might have sealed the deal. But the WDT will probably always be around in my household. Will never forget going down there with Mr. (Paul) Dickerman and his Mom on election nights and observing the hoopla as a child lost in the hoopla.
....whoops. Mother-in-law, Mrs Swindell.
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