Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Losing the News

The Ithaca Journal has downsized once again, and the only local bit of news yesterday was a piece on the SPCA. In a fit of pique, Paul has declared that we must cancel our subscription. After all, we read the bulk of the paper online anyway, and if we want national news, we read the online Times.

Of course, I feel terrible. After all, it's the loss of subscribers that has led the IJ to such a pass in the first place. Not only that, but this will mean the first time in my adult life that I haven't read a real-life newspaper once a day. Paul points out that it's not as though we're supporting a local institution anymore; the paper is printed in Binghamton, and only four reporters remain on staff. As far as I can tell, the office downtown is just a big classified ad department.

Paul thinks the paper should just use freelancers and close up the office entirely, functioning more the way the local weeklies do. I'm just very sad about the whole thing. Plus I'll miss the comics and Jumble.

I think I'll put Alex Jones's new book on my reading list.

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