Sad News about the News

I have always been a newspaper guy.  Growing up in Detroit we had two newspapers delivered to the house.  The Detroit Free Press came in the morning and The Detroit News in the afternoon.  The sports section was always my favorite because is contained the latest news on my favorite team, The Detroit Tigers.  I would review the box score every morning and then scan the box scores for all the other games.  Joe Falls was my favorite sports writer because he covered the Tigers, always with a touch of humor which helps if you are a Tiger fan. Strange as it sounds, my second favorite was the business section.  I was really into cars and since we lived in the “Motor City” it seemed like there was something new every day.  Fall was especially exciting as all the new models were previewed. 

I got to be part of the newspaper business while in high school.  I was a carrier for the Detroit Free Press.  That meant I was up at 5:00 AM every morning.  I often delivered over 150 papers and I had to have my route completed by 6:45 AM so I could catch the bus to school.  My guess is that half the homes on my route got the paper.  I took my responsibility seriously, because I knew some of my customers wanted their paper before they left for work. 

We have always subscribed to the paper, no matter where we life.  The Southeast Missourian when we lived in Cape Girardeau, the Chicago Tribune and Elgin Courier when we lived in Chicago and now the Dallas Morning News.  In addition to reading the daily paper I stop by the library once a week to read the USA Today and New York Times.  I know I could read some of those online but I like the feel of the paper in my hand and nothing tops reading the sport section with my morning coffee.

Barb and I are some of the few folks in our neighborhood that still get the daily paper.  A recent report for Pew Research confirmed what I already knew; the daily paper is dying.  Less than 10% of Millennials read a local newspaper daily.  Even among those over the age of 65 less than a third pay to subscribe to a local newspaper.  When I shared my concern with my son-in-law, John Seale, he reminded me that historically people got their news socially.  John is very well informed but I know he does not read a newspaper or watch the evening news.  He gets his news online or hears it from  friends.  It got to thinking about biblical times.  The local news was shared around the town well or at the local temple.  Maybe that was just another form of “social media.”