Another Subscriber Gone

I did something this year that I never imagined I would do. After 47 years of continuous reader loyalty, I cancelled my subscription to my daily paper.

I’m somewhat of a newsaholic. I watch the news, national and local, on two different networks in the same time period thanks to digital video recording.

I read about a dozen news sources on the web including BBC, German News, Australian News, NY Times, Washington Post, and about 6 local Mississippi papers.

Even so, I always looked to my local paper as my prime source of news. But, alas, no more do I seek out the local paper for news. Why? My local paper quit investing in the news. They basically fired their news reporters and are no longer the best source for Mississippi news.

There was a time when people bought newspapers because they were the main source of local news. Then television came along with a fifteen minute national newscast, then a thirty minute newscast, and the local stations followed suit. Even then, I still looked to the local paper for detailed information about the fifteen to thirty second stories run on television.

Over a period of time, newspapers began to emphasize advertising over news. They substantially increased the size and pay of staffs devoted to advertising. They de-emphasized news. The news staff at the “Clarion-Ledger” has become a revolving door of fresh college graduates. If they write a dozen stories worth reading, they are quickly snapped up by other papers, government, or private industry with a substantial increase in compensation.

Over the past few years, my local newspaper, the “Clarion-Ledger”, under the misguided leadership of Gannett, has steadily lowered it’s standards and decreased space devoted to news. Finally this year, when I got my annual bill with a significant increase in the subscription rate along with a notation that they were going to charge me extra for delivering the ad laden Thanksgiving paper, I decided I didn’t want to subsidize such foolishness any longer.

So chalk it up Gannett. I am now a former subscriber.