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Counterpoint: people used to pay for news. Households would subscribe to daily or weekly newspaper deliveries and monthly magazine delivery; people would buy n

Counterpoint: people used to pay for news. Households would subscribe to daily or weekly newspaper deliveries and monthly magazine delivery; people would buy newspapers from stands on their way into the office in the morning. I grew up in the UK in a household that subscribed to a daily local newspaper, a Sunday national, a weekly TV guide magazine, and several monthly magazines. This in a country where we also had free over the air access to BBC nightly television news and local and national news radio. Did news used to have more impact on people's lives? Or are people now simply able to pick up the same ambient awareness they desire about the state of the world (or at least the subjective impression of something that feels like it) from free internet sources?

imgabe 4y ago
I am also old enough to remember print newspapers. They used to serve a number of important purposes. Classifieds: want to buy or sell a car? get a job? Buy a house? This was the place to do it. Not actually going to do it but just want to peruse what’s available? This is the only option. Comics: laughs, puzzles every day. No Internet, no where else to get this. Traffic, weather: these might actually make a difference in your day Yes, before the Internet, newspapers actually did things that were useful
- rdtwo 4y ago
  Yeah but mostly I just enjoyed reading them as stories of far away places. Now there are almost no reporters who are truly in touch with what’s happening because it’s just event summaries from Ap
lapcat 4y ago
> Or are people now simply able to pick up the same ambient awareness they desire about the state of the world (or at least the subjective impression of something that feels like it) from free internet sources? This. People find some value in the news and are willing to pay for it when there's no other option, but they don't value the news enough to pay for it when the free internet option does an acceptable job of satisfying their curiosity. You mention TV and radio, but the critical difference is that you can read paper or online news on your own time, whereas TV and radio have their own schedules.
foogazi 4y ago
What about newspapers as household entertainment ? Newspapers covered not just news but also opinion, entertainment, sports, socials, comics, classifieds Something for everyone Now the internet can fill all of those with a-la-carte options

imgabe 4y ago

I am also old enough to remember print newspapers. They used to serve a number of important purposes. Classifieds: want to buy or sell a car? get a job? Buy a house? This was the place to do it. Not actually going to do it but just want to peruse what’s available? This is the only option. Comics: laughs, puzzles every day. No Internet, no where else to get this. Traffic, weather: these might actually make a difference in your day Yes, before the Internet, newspapers actually did things that were useful

rdtwo 4y ago
Yeah but mostly I just enjoyed reading them as stories of far away places. Now there are almost no reporters who are truly in touch with what’s happening because it’s just event summaries from Ap

lapcat 4y ago

> Or are people now simply able to pick up the same ambient awareness they desire about the state of the world (or at least the subjective impression of something that feels like it) from free internet sources? This. People find some value in the news and are willing to pay for it when there's no other option, but they don't value the news enough to pay for it when the free internet option does an acceptable job of satisfying their curiosity. You mention TV and radio, but the critical difference is that you can read paper or online news on your own time, whereas TV and radio have their own schedules.

foogazi 4y ago

What about newspapers as household entertainment ? Newspapers covered not just news but also opinion, entertainment, sports, socials, comics, classifieds Something for everyone Now the internet can fill all of those with a-la-carte options