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Would you subscribe?

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by JackReacher, Jan 13, 2009.

  1. canucklehead

    canucklehead Active Member

    I definitely wouldn't subscribe to our paper. Our newspaper is getting weaker and is shrinking by the day. On my days off, Saturday and Sunday, I can breeze through it in 10 minutes if I go slow. I am like most of you in that a few years ago I couldn't imagine not reading it cover to cover every morning. Now, it looks more like a free weekly, so why bother?
     
  2. three_bags_full

    three_bags_full Well-Known Member

    Honestly, I don't have time to read the paper. It's a function of my job, I guess.

    Right now I have to be at work at 6 a.m., workout until 7:15 (or so), take a shower, grab breakfast. Study a little before getting to work at 8:45 or 9. By then, work gets cranking, and I don't have time.

    When I'm in school, I have to be there at 5 a.m.

    By the time I get home, I've either heard the news I want to read or found it online to digest in bits and pieces.

    If I had time, I would.
     
  3. Inky_Wretch

    Inky_Wretch Well-Known Member

    SJ legend Ryan Sonner is leaving the business!?! All hope is lost for newspapers.

    If (when?) I leave the business, I'll still subscribe to the local paper.
     
  4. FileNotFound

    FileNotFound Well-Known Member

    I subscribe to neither of my local newspapers. I travel too much to make it worthwhile, and nobody else in the family reads it. My 14-year-old daughter has nytimes.com bookmarked. Wife gets all her news from friends on Facebook. I get all my news, well, here.
     
  5. BYH

    BYH Active Member

    Would have bet whatever is in my pocket that it would have been the reverse. :D
     
  6. FileNotFound

    FileNotFound Well-Known Member

    That's just a little glimpse into the Bizarro World that my house can sometimes be.

    -- My wife, 38, is mostly conservative. Her mom, 61, is a full-on vegetarian far-left hippie.
    -- Daughter, 14, has her friends over for classical music jam sessions and Broadway sing-alongs. (She plays viola.)
    --Wife climbs the roof to hang Christmas lights, paints the walls, and repairs electrical fixtures and such (she comes from a family of electricians.) I do laundry and cook.
    -- When something needs to be retrieved from a high place, the kids call out to Mommy (who's 6 feet), not Daddy (who's, well, not.)
    -- 14-year-old daughter loves the NFL. 8-year-old daughter is a huge hockey fan. 9-year-old son could give a shit about sports.

    Now you see why newspapers have such a hard time marketing their content into easily defined niches. :)
     
  7. Moderator1

    Moderator1 Moderator Staff Member

    It's free. Online.
    I get it for work but I usually read it online. Went without it for a month, read it online every day and didn't feel like I missed a thing.
    This is why newspapers are struggling. Who will pay for something that is available at no cost. Yeah, yeah, they make money on clicks. Not so much they don't or they wouldn't be cutting and canning people left and right. The TD's readership is as high as it has been, great market penetration and all that. But SO many of those folks are not paying for the product.

    I read the TD every day. Read the NY papers, the Washington papers, USA Today, the AJC, Nats.com, many other Nats-related stuff - not all every day depending on time, etc. - but I read a lot of stuff. I don't pay for any of it.

    What kind of business model is that?

    So that's a long-winded bunch of a horseshit for what should be a simple answer to Ryan's question.
    No. Read it online. The Post has one of the best Web sites in the business. It's free.
     
  8. JackReacher

    JackReacher Well-Known Member

    Yeah, I get all that. Maybe it's just the novelty of getting the Post delivered to my house. I read it when I was younger, took a long break, and now I want to read it again. Or maybe a part of me wants to do my share to help this struggling business, even if it's only $26. Who knows.

    Chances are, I'll cancel my subscription after the inital six-month period, especially if my rate jumps up to cover price.
     
  9. Some Guy

    Some Guy Active Member

    It's a little bit of both for me, too. I'm a newspaperman, dammit. I should get a newspaper.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 1, 2015
  10. JackReacher

    JackReacher Well-Known Member

    Yeah. I think if a subscription cost $300 a year or something crazy, I'd read it online for free. Obviously. At this point, though, $25 for six months doesn't seem like too much, so I'm game. Plus, the wife gave me the go ahead to spend money, which I always take advantage of.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 1, 2015
  11. I'd buy a subscription if I didn't already get a newspaper (well, three) for free that my college pays for. I get the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, New York Times and USA Today for free during the semester, so I read none of their Web sites. Despite that, I tried to subscribe to the KC Star, but cancelled when they couldn't find my address. I now read the P-D's paper copy daily, plus the KC Star and Seattle Times' Web sites because I can't get their paper copies delivered to my address.
     
  12. Fredrick

    Fredrick Well-Known Member

    Why can't newspaper higher ups realize this is why the industry is dead? The product used to be good; now it's bad. So people don't buy it. Duh. Keep givin it away for free publishers.
     
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