Monthly archive

June 2012

Friday, June 8, 2012

The news of the day . . .

I grew up in a household of newspaper readers. As far back as I can remember, two papers came to our home each and every day, one in the morning, another in the afternoon. In my dad's job, he read many more from around the country in addition to those local editions. In retirement, he took three daily papers. These days, at least when I'm in Virginia, I subscribe to two.

Add in my background as a newspaper journalist and the news out of New Orleans recently that the Times-Picayune would be cutting back to three print editions per week was like a blow to my heart. I know times change. I know people get more of their news online, but for me there is nothing like grabbing that daily paper -- ink-stained fingers notwithstanding -- and reading in-depth about what's happening in the world.

I like checking the sports scores, the movie listings, the comics and doing my soduko and crossword puzzles. I have never, not once, willingly done any of this online. I say willingly because movie listings seem to appear erratically in print these days so I have been forced to look online for those. Hate it.

Maybe my aversion has to do with a combination of being old-fashioned and stubborn. Or maybe it's because I'm on a computer for hours at a time writing and have no desire to be on it for anything more. Whatever the reason, the thought of relying on the Internet for the news of the day horrifies me. TV news, which I also watch off and on throughout the day, doesn't come close to fulfilling my desire to know what's going on in my neighborhood and around the world. I need more than headlines. I prefer in-depth reporting.

I gather from the news reports that the New Orleans paper will continue to print on Wednesday (food sections and grocery store ads being the stated reason), Fridays (weekend happenings, movie and entertainment ads) and Sundays (all those special advertising sections). Are you seeing the pattern? It's not even remotely about keeping a community informed. It's about making money. Obviously newspapers are a business, but few that I'm aware of have found a way to make digital editions profitable. That implies a smaller, less experienced staff providing whatever slim coverage there is. In today's complicated world, we need to be better informed than I fear we will be.

The New Orleans paper is not the first that has gone to this schedule. Sadly, it probably won't be the last. I'm bracing for the day when either of my cities -- Washington and Miami -- jump on this trend. If your paper has done this, I'd love to hear how you think it's working out. Do you read the online editions? Rely on TV? Or just do without any sort of timely news reports? How do you keep up with what's going on in the world?

Comment here or jump on over to my Facebook page and share your thoughts.

  • Login or register to post comments
  • Share this
Friday, June 1, 2012

Drink up . . . Or Don't

There are many things in life that are worthy of regulation, I suppose, but the size of "legal" soft drinks doesn't strike me as one of them. Just this week New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced that super-size servings of sugary soft drinks, sweet tea and so on would no longer be legal in the city's restaurants, movie theaters and other publicly-regulated spots.

It seems to me that while the mayor's stated intentions are noble enough -- taking aim at one of the worst offenders in the obesity epidemic -- he's way over the line between personal accountability and choice and the government's right to legislate for the public good.

Ever since I first heard this news, I've gone back and forth on whether the goal trumps individual rights. While it's true that this is not a ban on soft drinks -- anyone can order two or more if a smaller drink doesn't satisfy their thirst -- it is about halfway down that slippery slope of the government trying to dictate personal behavior. Here's how my mental pro - con list has gone.

On the pro side -- this could wake up consumers and make them think about the amount of wasted sugar calories they're drinking in a given day, it could make a dent in obesity statistics, it could even help with such related health issues as diabetes and even affect medical costs.

However, on the con side -- it tramples all over the freedom that we cherish in this country, the freedom to make our own choices, our own sometimes silly mistakes. Sure lots of laws infringe on personal liberties, but I'd like to think we restrict those to matters that keep our
society civilized. To me this doesn't come close to rising to that bar.

This isn't the first time someone has tried to limit access to foods considered to be bad for us. The cupcake wars that wanted to ban moms from bringing treats to school for children's birthday parties comes to mind. And again, while I admire the goal, I deplore anyone's attempt to make choices -- even sensible ones -- for me or my friends or their kids.

What do you think? Comment here or jump over to my Facebook fan page and join the conversation there. Share this with your friends, so they can chime in, too. Meantime, drink up...but maybe you should stick to water.