NEWSFLASH August 2020

I grew up in a home where the newspaper was a daily ritual.  Each day we walked to the end of the driveway to retrieve the mail from the mailbox and the pick up the paper. 

When my Dad read through the paper, he randomly underlined things with a pencil, leaving any future reader to contemplate the meaning behind his marked phrases and therefore be unable to fully focus on the news.  

My dad always completed the majority of the daily crossword puzzle with this same pencil, and I assisted him specializing in pop culture and sports-related clues. 

These days the newspapers are losing popularity, as we choose to instead obtain our news from other sources, or simply read the newspaper online.

I recently switched to Sunday newspaper delivery only. This delivery method provides daily digital access all week, but still ensures the the weekly coupons arrive as the large paper hits my driveway every Sunday morning. 

When I contacted the office to modify my subscription, the customer service representative did not sound surprised by my request. The agent I spoke with was defeated, as if she had already had many “please cancel my subscription” conversations. The Sunday only delivery option is perhaps the newspaper’s last stand for survival. 

On the other six days of the week, I do miss the ability to tear out a picture or an article, especially when I am surfing through the newspaper on my phone. Sometimes I will take a screenshot, but it is never as satisfying as ripping out a page. 

When I was a child, my two favorite parts of the paper were the comics and the TV guide. Even recently, I briefly considered organizing a boycott when my local paper decided to stop providing the weekly TV guide for free and requested that we sign up for an additional subscription. 

As a teenager, I became a baseball fanatic, and I started reading the paper from back to front, prioritizing the New York Yankees over the rest of the news. Eventually, I landed a job in the public sector, and I finally switched to the conventional method of reading of the paper, front to back, to keep up with the events and elections of the local municipalities and public school districts. 

These days I enjoy the advance image I receive of the current newspaper cover on Twitter. This preview tweet always makes me feel empowered and ahead of the current news cycle. It will be interesting to see what other changes will unfold regarding the newspaper industry. 

Q. How does the newspaper remind you of your childhood?