Oh No, I'm Part of a Trend

Quote of the day:
“It's like some vast aerial city with people walking briskly to and fro on catwalks, carrying picnic baskets full of nutritious snacks.”
--Nicholson Baker, talking about Wikipedia

A funny thing has been happening to me the last few weeks. I have barely read the newspaper.

The daily paper has been an integral part of my life since college, where we were assigned The Washington Post as part of the journalism program. For many years Merrie and I subscribed to four newpapers--The Los Angeles Times, the San Diego Union-Tribune, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.

Now we’re down to just two--the Southern California ones. Very few days have ever gone by when I haven’t read through at least one paper.

But a while back I began spending my morning newspaper time online, mostly reading from a variety of news sources. The best news sources online tend to be the newspaper sites--many of them are very good indeed.

Like you I’ve been reading for years about the decline of newspapers. The fall in daily circulation accelerated just over the last 12 months. Fewer than 30% of those under 30 read a daily paper.

I never, never imagined myself to be part of this decline. I guess I have always held on to the tradition and romance of print journalism.

I’m not sure I’m jettisoning this tradition just yet. We’ll see. But it sure is fun to travel among newspapers and other sources every morning--and maybe catch up on some other things too.