Do you read local newspapers or watch local news?

[edfurlong]

I watch it about once every other week. Usually just when I've seen a bunch of SWAT guys roll down the street or something like that, but can't be bothered to find out whats going on.

[Maulik]

Growing up, I read the Wash Post weekend section for city events and ideas. Also, I used to watch the evening nightly news through my early teens. Now, when I´m exposed to nightly news broadcasts (any of the three networks), I see very little news; many unnecessary on-site interviews and several fluff segments per episode. T

During college I would beat the kids to the library to pick up the NYT courtsey of the ¨Collegiate Readership Program.¨ Now my exclusive news outlet is The Economist. Their tabloid provides a concise summary of weekly worldly events while keeping my white-collars clean! The The Economist should include an article on fashion, aside from that, I have no qualms.

[heater]

I watch CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News daily. I catch a lot of national/international stuff online as well. I never watch the local news. I get the Sunday paper but that's mostly for the ad inserts.

[mmbt0ne]

I read the AJC every day. It's a nice relaxing hour or so, and I can't stand reading the newspaper online.

EDIT: Plus I get to do the puzzles this way.

[Duke]

The world is becoming a smaller place as time goes on, and people realize that what's happening in their home town isn't all that important. For those of us who travel a lot, it's even less crucial to know what day the VA parade is on.

[Phat Mack]

20 years ago, I was reading two newspapers every morning, the local paper and either the NYT or the WSJ. The local paper still publishes, but it is mainly filler from wires services--very little local news. I have the NYT as my home page and I sort of glace at it once a day.

I also used to listen to radio news, either local, BBC or NPR every morning and afternoon during drive time, but it has been ten years since I have. Radio news has always been my favorite since I was a short wave fan as a kid.

I can't stomach TV news. Ted Baxter was no joke. I used to have a woman working with me who later became a local anchor. She made Ted look like a genius, and she was actually more narcissistic (sp). National news isn't much better, although I was still watching 60 Minutes in the 90s. I download Jim Lehrer to my ipod, and listen to selected topics every few days while I'm working.

Sports and weather I get from the internet.

I wonder about the future of news, and its impact on society. I think the news at one time provided a sort of check on the government, and I'm not sure it is there anymore. Maybe it never was.

[XXXNoahXXX]

I occasionally read my small town paper at my parent's place or online to see whose in Iraq, who got married, what type of sex kids are having on school buses, which Selectman is gay, etc.

I read the Boston Globe occasionally when I'm having a coffee or on the train. Check the Boston Herald headline because they like to photoshop their front covers and have wacky headlines.

I also read the Weekly Dig, which is a funny independent paper for anyone in Boston.

Other than that I have a script to the Economist and I read CNN/BBC/etc. online and listen to NPR.

[mmbt0ne]

Pretty good article about newspapers and what they need to do if they ever want to survive.

http://www.fastcompany.com/subscr/11...ext-essay.html

[J.A.Sucker]

Interesting question, Diablo.

Living in Colorado, I watched the local news quite often, but they had two of the best newscasts in America (probably the best two, actually). I think this is because they historically used Denver as a place to rid future anchors of their accents before going national. Many old-time news people are still around and the production value is top-notch. News in the Bay Area is pitiful in comparison. Plus, nothing is better than the beautiful Kathy Sabine doing the weather forecasts... [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

So I basically never watch local news anymore, because it's HORRIBLE! I hate CNN/Fox just as much, for different reasons, but I watch them in the casinos with closed captioning while playing becuase it's there. If something big goes down, then I will watch those stations.

I read lots of news on the 'net and you can get a lot of information quickly, plus it's easy to do your own further research if your curiousity gets piqued. This is a real benefit of internet news that most everyone does, but few may actually think about, but it adds to the experience.

That said, reading the morning newspaper with my cup of coffee is one of the things I love most to do. It's more of a relaxation thing than informational for me, and I usually only get to do it on weekends. Much of the decline in newspaper quality has been due to the pressure that papers have taken over the years for exposing scandals and coverups with regard to important topics. Most notably, the fall of the Mercury News over a series of stories that exposed the CIA's involvement in the Contra affair.

[RikaKazak]

lol @ the idea of local news where I live.

The "big story" would be like, ZOMG we had 2 speeding tickets given out today.