topic Re: My local newspaper in Community Chat

My local newspaper

catter70 — Thu, 31 Oct 2024 11:28:07 GMT

I just heard last night on the news that my local newspaper is going fully digital starting in Feb. 2025. No more printed paper. Too costly to do print anymore. Yes, I know, print is old school but I enjoy looking at it every morning. I've subscribed for over 50 years and and also my parents always subscribed, so I grew up looking at that paper. I just renewed it last month for a one year subscription, so I sure hope that money will be refunded as there was no mention made of this on the news or in this mornings paper. I called CS yesterday afternoon and they didn't know about it.

Re: My local newspaper

Group 5 minus 1 — Thu, 31 Oct 2024 11:29:35 GMT

I feel the same way about books. I want to hold a book in my hands and read it.

Re: My local newspaper

jackthebear — Thu, 31 Oct 2024 11:30:07 GMT

Star ledger .?

Re: My local newspaper

They CallMe MRWILKES — Thu, 31 Oct 2024 11:36:55 GMT

The death of The Star Ledger in print is all over the local TV news here.

Includes The Times of Trenton and The South Jersey Times.

Print facility closure in Montville with job losses.

Re: My local newspaper

catter70 — Thu, 31 Oct 2024 11:38:03 GMT

@They CallMe MRWILKES , No, Express Times. I think they may be owned by the same publisher. @jackthebear, I'm in Pa., but originally from NJ many years ago, so I've also read the Star Ledger.

Re: My local newspaper

They CallMe MRWILKES — Thu, 31 Oct 2024 12:05:24 GMT

All of these papers are published by NJ Advance Media, a division of Advance Media, a huge conglomerate which also owns Conde Nast.

Re: My local newspaper

CalminHeart — Thu, 31 Oct 2024 12:26:10 GMT

My local paper charges a fortune for the paper version so I quit taking it years ago.

I had a digital subscription for a while. That very quickly ended when they decided to limit the paper to local news....which I can easily get on local tv news and media sites.

Re: My local newspaper

PinkyPetunia — Thu, 31 Oct 2024 12:44:29 GMT

I think the OP means the Star-Ledger of NJ. I was a subscriber for 20+ years but Covid killed the paper IMO. They had production issues, then it was hard to find delivery personnel. Many days the paper wouldn't be delivered till noon, if at all.

The price went up so I switched to 4 day delivery. Then the paper demanded you pay your bill online, no more paper bill. OK, but they didn't send an email reminder my bill was available and my a/c was locked! I wouldn't pay till I could view the bill, but could not get into the a/c to see the bill. Cancelled the paper.

I don't miss them. The paper got thinner and thinner, old news, very few local stories. They quit trying and brought about their own end IMO.

Re: My local newspaper

Jaspertimes — Thu, 31 Oct 2024 12:47:14 GMT

By the time the newspaper is printed the news is old. With social media, news is real time. Same goes for the evening news, reports are old by the time it airs.

Re: My local newspaper

Boehm Collector — Thu, 31 Oct 2024 12:51:05 GMT

@catter70 wrote:
I just heard last night on the news that my local newspaper is going fully digital starting in Feb. 2025. No more printed paper. Too costly to do print anymore. Yes, I know, print is old school but I enjoy looking at it every morning. I've subscribed for over 50 years and and also my parents always subscribed, so I grew up looking at that paper. I just renewed it last month for a one year subscription, so I sure hope that money will be refunded as there was no mention made of this on the news or in this mornings paper. I called CS yesterday afternoon and they didn't know about it.

@catter70 ... do you live in New Jersey? Becaause I heard that The Star Ledger, Trenton Times, South Jersey Times, Easton Express-Times and the weekly Hunterdon County Democrat will all go to digital format only in February 2025. The Jersey Journal will close entirely.

Re: My local newspaper

We rescue cats — Thu, 31 Oct 2024 13:04:36 GMT

Our local paper went down to reduced publication days. We now do not have a printed newspaper on Tuesday or Sunday.The online version publish on Tuesday, there is one online paper for the "Weekend Edition". Advertising dollars have shrunk, cost of the paper to print on have risen. . . And here in our small town advertisers have closed shops. The internet is a vicious adversary.

Re: My local newspaper

CelticCrafter — Thu, 31 Oct 2024 13:23:24 GMT

We stopped the daily newspaper a really long time ago when it was going from the front door right into the recycling bin because we had no time to look at it.

We would pick up just the Sunday paper for the sale circulars and coupons but like someone upthread said, Covid killed that and don't even do that anymore.

We do get grocery sale circulars in the mail and the coupon circular they include is laughable. They're all health and beauty coupons, nothing for food anymore.

Re: My local newspaper

Carmie — Thu, 31 Oct 2024 13:40:10 GMT

In my area, one of the largest newspapers in the state stopped publishing a paper seven days a week back in 2012.

Now there is an actual paper published on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. The news is now on the Internet.

Some of the digital news is free to read, but a lot of it requires a subscription.

I don't subscribe for an actual paper or for the digital version. I missed it at first, now I don't really care.

I read news from all over the USA and the world everyday. The local paper doesn't even interest me anymore.

I do read the obits...which doesn't require a subscription. I can check local news on the TV stations website.

Re: My local newspaper

Sooner — Thu, 31 Oct 2024 15:27:36 GMT

Skilled labor to run presses and make the plates is probably in dwindling supply. We have to save the earth and eliminate paper. Who would deliver papers now? And it's a different world.

No bottled milk delivery from the farm either.

Re: My local newspaper

Still Raining — Thu, 31 Oct 2024 15:28:35 GMT

I have a couple of digital subscriptions. A totally different feel to the experience.

Re: My local newspaper

jlkz — Fri, 01 Nov 2024 12:35:05 GMT

@catter70

I could have written your post myself: over 50 years of holding various newspapers and books in hand.

I am turning 80 in less than three weeks and converted to digital papers when the price became outrageous and delivery service became an issue. The digital price for the same paper was half the paper price !

It grew on me: if I awoke at 4:30, the " paper " was on my iPad and ready for viewing. My hands were always clean after putting the " paper " down. I can always immediately access the last thing I was reading if was interrupted and returned a few minutes or hours later. Convenience yes ! I could sit on the swing on a breezy day and read the digital paper comfortably. What do I miss: the smell of fresh newsprint, completing the crossword puzzle ( Words with Friends is a great substitute ), and " bundling up " the month's worth of papers for recycling.

I have been reading ebooks from the Cloud Library app free for cardholders from my local library. Super convenient and comfortable: I can eat my cereal while reading " hands free. "

DH is thinking of going totally digital for his new hobby of reading....could be because the last book he read was very " heavy ", lol !!!

He has gotten used to iPads so this transition is easier. Enlarging text could also be at play, lol. !

Change is constant: materials, methods, job skills, etc.

Re: My local newspaper

catter70 — Fri, 01 Nov 2024 13:39:08 GMT

@jlkz , I can get a lot of my paper online, but not all of it. I'll think about signing up for the entire paper as I'll still be getting the paper until Feb. They had already stopped printing a Sat. paper last year and also removed the Sunday Parade which I always enjoyed. Doing the crosswords for me is something else I'll miss doing on paper. I still like cutting out paper coupons, too, though they're not much good anymore. Online isn't the same. Have to stock up from the $ store, I guess. Thanks for your input.