Should I feel bad about cancelling my local newspaper

[Norwegian72]

All,

I live in a small city, which only has one local newspaper. I've recently begun cleaning up my act, cancelling cable and a phone noone used. I'm currently looking at our newspaper subscription. Turns out we never really read it anymore, especially after the children grew up. I'm wondering if you think there is a community responsibility in keeping these things funded? To ease my concerns I searched through the ownership chain, and it turns out that it was a really complex setup, eventually ending up in a large conglomerate, owned and conctrolled by the unions and by extension the socialist party. Since I never vote for the socialists I am somewhat at ease, however it still is a local newspaper with all the small, local stories that go with it. What do you all think?

Regards

[1967mama]

My husband just asked me to cancel our local paper on Friday. I think he's right -- all the local news is available free from other sources online, so why am I forking out $120/year for "news?" 

Additionally, I tend to agree with MMM's low information diet and really do find that on the days I don't read the news, I am thinking about the news less (!!) and focussing on my family and home more. 

[G-dog]

No. You should not feel bad for not buying something that does not fit your needs.
You can always subscribe again later if something changes....

[nstro3zy]

Gotta say, this one hits kind of close to home. I work for a small-town newspaper that was family-owned for 130+ years before declaring bankruptcy this year. We were bought by a New York City venture capital firm and I'm still grateful every time I see someone reading our paper. It just depends if you see it as a matter of principle. My mom for instance, who is a career journalist, still subscribes to the Washington Post and sees it as a sort of charitable donation toward the public good, even though she rarely has time to read it. I'd personally keep my subscription simply because I wouldn't have the heart to cancel it. Even if you don't agree with the ownership there are still real people working there that care about your community and telling its stories. But it says something about your awareness of the issue that you even though to ask, so thank you for that!

[pachnik]

I have mixed feelings about this one. 

When I found this website, I cut my expenses one of which was the newspaper.  I didn't have a subscription but I did buy the paper at a newsstand pretty much every day Monday through Saturday.  Now I buy the paper for sure on Saturdays and once in a while on a Monday or Tuesday.  I can't say that I really miss having it everyday and there are plenty of free local newspapers around.  I just feel badly because I know that newspapers are struggling.  (However, my parents have been subscribers for as long as I can remember. :) )

But to answer your question, no you shouldn't feel bad about not buying something you don't use.

[C. K.]

No. You should not feel bad for not buying something that does not fit your needs.
You can always subscribe again later if something changes....

+1

[Prairie Stash]

My original small town closed its local T.V. News station due to declining ratings. I don't feel at all bad not watching the evening news on cable.
Several phone companies, like AT&T are petioning to end the regulations requiring them to maintain the phone landline infrastructure. They claim many people are canceling landline service.

I don't think you should feel bad not subsidizing newspapers, cable companies or phone companies.

[lizzzi]

I wouldn't feel bad about it, if no one is reading it or getting any good out of it. I came very close to canceling our smallish-town newspaper this year, but I do read it daily--just a quick run-through for the obits. and dog and cat of the week.  (Joke.) It is handy for reading up on local issues before voting, and on local road closures, metropolitan park issues, and things like that. I never look at all the inserts, because I rarely go into stores.

[windypig]

I dont think you should feel bad about not paying for a service which you do not think is worth the money. It is not your responsibility to keep their business afloat. That being said the value I get out of my local paper is worth the money spend on it (for me). Only you can asses your on situation but it is not your responsibility to keep your local paper in business.

[Frankies Girl]

I got my start in newspapers (and met my husband while working for one). That being said, I don't subscribe and I don't feel bad about it.

It is a dying industry, it is sad but there isn't much that anyone can do about that. There are too many things that are much easier and cheaper (or free) that have replaced the newspaper - news is free and instant, coupons are downloadable from various sites - honestly I can't think of a single reason to keep subscribing.

I appreciate the impact of newspapers throughout history, but I'm not going to stay with an obsolete technology/information source out of nostalgia.

[avongil]

Yeah, don't feel bad. It will fizzle out if they don't go electronic or do something special. Traditional physical papers are well on their way out.

[soccerluvof4]

second most on here. The only time i pick up a paper these days is if I am sitting somewhere that doesn't have a good magazine or tube waiting for something. The good content is minimal and I find it easier to find what I want to read on line.

[RMD]

I subscribed for a long time only for the crosswords.  It's not the same doing them on-line or out of a book.  Newsprint page folded is the way I prefer.  That said, I ran out of time to do the crossword, cancelled my subscription and that was that.  Yes, I do feel bad.  At some point "you can always resubscribe" won't be an option anymore.  I know it's a dying industry...and while that makes me sad, I have to be at peace with it.  My singular subscription will not save my local paper.

[Emg03063]

If it makes you feel better, see if they have an online only subscription for less.  Otherwise, rest easy knowing you're saving a tree ;).

[LibrarIan]

I asked this question even before the Internet made this information so easily accessible and the answer was no then. Because library.

[C. K.]

I subscribed for a long time only for the crosswords.  It's not the same doing them on-line or out of a book.  Newsprint page folded is the way I prefer.  That said, I ran out of time to do the crossword, cancelled my subscription and that was that.  Yes, I do feel bad.  At some point "you can always resubscribe" won't be an option anymore.  I know it's a dying industry...and while that makes me sad, I have to be at peace with it.  My singular subscription will not save my local paper.

This sounds like an opportunity for someone to start a business that releases nothing but crosswords and only on folded newspaper material. It's a specific niche, but I guarantee you're not the only one who feels this and will be frustrated when newspapers breathe their last.

[Jack]

I've been struggling with this too. Currently, I subscribe to paper on Thursday and Sunday and electronic the rest of the week. I've found that I'm not very likely to read any on the electronic days and therefore probably wouldn't miss it much if I cancelled entirely, but I also feel like the paper provides a valuable service to the community since it covers local issues better than any other news source I've found. If I were confident it would continue to exist indefinitely I'd probably cancel it tomorrow, but instead I consider charity to try to stave off its demise.

[strider3700]

It's weird to think of subscribing to a newspaper.  My Town Had 3 papers.   1 daily, 1 once a week and 1 3 times a week.  Daily was the only one that cost money.   The weekend  one got merged with the 3 times a week and at that point basically all of the flyers got added to the free version.   The paid one went under a short time later.   Even being free I barely read it as most of the info is online.   It's only a matter of time before they're all gone.

[Norwegian72]

Hi,

Thank you for all your responses. I appreciate it is not a true or false topic.

They do have a reduced online version for free, and a full pdf version that costs just slightly less than the paper version. I've anyway decided to cancel it, so thank your for the advice. I've felt the quality has been dropping steadily and with the technological advances, all the news is out there for free anyway thanks to Joe Public. In depth articles have mostly disappeared completely. Too much effort for the newspapers for too little commercial gain I suspect.

Regards