What I Missed Getting News Only Online

From Editor and Publisher:

What I Missed Only Getting News Online

To save money, I recently stopped buying newspapers and got all of my news online. I was satisfied. At least until I took a writing test for a job recently and found I was all too 'news poor.' Now I'm back into print.

By Ted Knutson

(December 05, 2008) -- The rest of the world seems to be gravitating from print newspapers to their online incarnations. Recently, I have found myself going in exactly the opposite direction.

When I lost my last staff position some months ago (I've been writing for various publications for over 30 years), one of the first things I did to save money was to stop buying newspapers and begin getting my news totally online. I was satisfied. At least until I took a writing test for a job recently and found I was all too “news poor.”

Since then, I have dipped into my freelance resources and have begun buying newspapers again. Contrary to the above mentioned “rest of the world,” I found I was missing a lot.

Now that I am devouring print newspapers again, I can honestly say I am much better informed because I am reading more stories and longer stories.

I also am realizing the joy again of running across news I didn’t realize was there by leafing through all the pages of a newspaper instead of just looking at a handful of headlines on the home page of a newspaper’s Web site.

Still another advantage is the techno-phobe in me rests easier because I don’t have to worry about my computer printer jamming any more when I (used to) print out long stories because they were easier to read on paper than on a monitor.

Also, I am happily discovering sales and coupons from my favorite advertisers again, many of whom don’t advertise in the online versions of the newspapers I read.

Speaking about ads, as much as I may have shunned much advertising before with my newsie bias, I am enjoying print advertising more because there are more items listed by the stores, more prices and none of the obnoxious drop-down ads which obliterate the stories I am trying to read.

In addition, when I clicked on an online ad, I often left the newspaper’s Web site I was on, not to return that day. With print, by contrast, it is much easier to go from an ad to a story to another ad to another story.

I became a lover of newspapers when I was a child. When my father came home each day, I always rushed to see him not because I loved him (which I didn’t) but because there would always be one or two newspapers in his briefcase.

Dad is long since gone. But with my return to buying newspapers, I have found I am happily having many reunions with dear old friends.

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Ted Knutson (dcreporter1@yahoo.com) is a freelance writer based in Washington, D.C. with over 30 years of experience covering business and government for a wide range of consumer and business publications. He remains available for hire.