I had a delightful surprise waiting for me this morning. When my husband went out a short while ago to get the newspaper (yes, we still get one newspaper delivered), he also brought in a box that had apparently been waiting for me on our doorstep since last evening.
I opened it to find the April 3 edition of several Indian newspapers, exulting and reveling in India’s victory in the 2011 World Cup.
The newspapers themselves took rather a circuitous route to get to me.
I’d asked my father to pick up a couple of newspapers for me, for posterity. He didn’t just find a couple of newspapers. He found every single English language newspaper he could, and held on to them patiently while I mulled over the best way to get them to me (FedEx would have been exorbitant and the Indian postal system is, shall we say, not too reliable, especially when it comes to international mail).
As it turned out, my parents took a brief vacation to Singapore a few weeks ago, coinciding with a vacation my brother (who currently lives in the UK) took. My devious, elder sister plan was to get my brother to haul them back to the UK and mail them to me from there (cheaper than mailing them from India). My brother, however, is a smart cookie, and refused to do so, deciding instead to mail them to me from Singapore (whose mail system is much more reliable).
While they were at the post office, he happened to meet a friend of his who now lives in California, and who very kindly offered to bring the newspapers back to the States, and mail them to me from there.
So from India, to Singapore, to California, to, finally, DC … I am now the proud owner of seven newspapers that I will delve into, most likely this weekend, to relive the ecstasy that millions of Indians and people of Indian origin experienced three months ago when, after 28 years, India finally brought home the jewel in cricket’s crown.
And that, to me, is why newspapers will never die. They may change; in fact, they have to change to survive in the new media landscape.
But there is nothing like the feeling you get when you look at the headline and reporting in a newspaper, particularly after a momentous event that has brought together people from all around the globe.
That’s the joy a newspaper brings.
@Shonali I will ask.
He is having his 50th in Oct and planning a big bash at a local golf resort; golf w/ the guys in the afternoon and couples at the clubhouse afterwards. I’m looking forward to it; he’s a great guy.
@the3drenderer Thanks so much for sharing (and commenting!).
@bdorman264 We definitely have to bring you in on a hangout! Have you asked Dr. Allam if he’s been watching the India/England series? It’s just great being able to watch it live at Lord’s. @TheJackB
@KenMueller Yes, I agree on the NYT. We subscribed to that at one point, only to be sorely disappointed.
@HowieSPM I think anyone’s opinion of the editorial pages in any media outlet reflect their own leanings… I honestly haven’t seen any editorial that is absolutely impartial. Having said that, and considering myself a centrist/moderate/whatever you want to call it, I do agree with you that the WSJ’s opinion pages are somewhat right-ist… but again, that’s just my opinion! @KenMueller
@JGarant One of the fun things, going through all these newspapers, was reading the other stories, looking at the ads, etc. No doubt it wouldn’t be particularly interesting if I still lived in India, but for me, being an ex-pat, it took me home a little.
@KimDavies Breathing in a book’s scent… I do the same thing too!
I had a lovely weekend, thanks so much for asking. How was yours?
Hi, Shonali.
I am so with you. Being able to actually hold a real newspaper and read it while you breathe in its scent is really different from reading it on a laptop or an iPad, yes? Just like it is different to answer a crossword puzzle in a newspaper than a book of crossword puzzles. Hahahah! I think I went off kilter there. Anyway, there is something so tangible and wonderful about that experience of reading a newspaper that makes you appreciate the presence of these reading materials despite the technological developments of today.
I, myself, love real books than ebooks. One of the pleasures I get when reading a book is its scent. I don’t know if others feel the way I do, but yeah, that’s the way it is for me. My husband laughs at me each time he buys me a book because after I thank him and before I begin reading it, I will breathe in its scent first. :D
Hope you had a wonderful weekend. :)
Love it @Shonali ! You’re absolutely right- newspapers need to change and adapt to the new media landscape, but there’s nothing quite like the joy of that hard copy newspaper to read through.
@Shonali @TheJackB Ha, do I hear my name being bandied about? I played golf last weekend with my friend Dr Mahesh Allam and it was the first time I had seen him since the World Cup. I asked if he had watched the World Cup and he looked at me quizzically; and I replied cricket, of course. He really lit up and was telling he must have had 30 people at his house at 5 am.
Once again my international culture and knowledge knows no bounds…….:)
@KenMueller @Shonali wsj has gone right wing with the editorial content. but the biz reporting is still good. i don’t patronize news corp when i have a choice. fox movies, fox tv (simpsons etc), fox sports i still have too. murdoch is about money not politics. he would be liberal if it made more cash but that side is crowded.
@Shonali We’ll have to bring Bill in on one of these hangouts. bdorman264
@TheJackB Well, that’s more than can be said for a lot of people.bdorman264
@Shonali I can’t say that I am a big fan or that I have done it more than a handful of times, but I have seen the game. bdorman264
@voxoptima @narciso17 Thank you for sharing!
@Shonali @HowieSPM Nothing wrong with that. I thought you might be talking about the NY Times, which has gotten really shoddy in its reporting.
@timepass I can’t wait for the weekend (tomorrow) to come so that I can really dive into them!
@TheJackB You watch cricket too?! OMG, wait until bdorman264 hears that.. or does he already know?!
@adamtoporek I do, don’t I?! Right now, though, my focus is on getting THEM to visit ME, LOL!
I don’t think you’re necessarily wrong, Adam. Because, of course I am looking at this from the point of view of my generation. It will be really interesting to see what happens in the next 5-10 years.
Who said we didn’t live in an exciting age?!
@KenMueller We subscribe to… at the risk of incurring the wrath of @HowieSPM … the Wall Street Journal. We’ve tried everything else, including daily subscriptions to the Washington Post, Examiner, and even the Christian Science Monitor, and the reporting was just… terrible.
I know many people think the WSJ is very right-wing, but we like the business focus, which is why we subscribe to it (I also subscribe to the Washington Business Journal), and we’re not extreme right- or left-wingers (of course, you’ll have to take my word for it). And what I like even more is that I can get the content on my iPhone and/or iPad.
Maybe I could do the same with the WP, but their overall reporting is so sad that they’ve just turned me off.
@shonali My pleasure. Great post!
@jocmbarnett Thank you for sharing!
Yep! I have my copies saved away. Somehow seeing a moment like the World Cup victory in print is something else! Reading it online and seeing it online just doesn’t bring the connection as you said.
There is a park near my house where people play Cricket. From time to time I have gone to watch. But what I like better is showing up at the Chinese restaurant they eat at afterwards.
It is like being at the UN- a potpourri of accents and stories about who did what, how and why.
As for newspapers, well I like to read the hard copy. I tend to read the news online more because it is where I spend most of my time- but still…
@Shonali @HowieSPM @KenMueller Oh Shonali, such a great story leading to such a sad topic! I don’t necessarily disagree with what you said about the personal connection, but in the end, I think that will simply help with the short term bleeding. I’m afraid demographics is destiny for the print news industry. Look at print readership levels under 35. Once the baby boomers pass… well, it’s done.
It’s good for the trees, but bad for journalism and government accountability, particularly at the local level.
BTW, you have some really cool places to visit family! :)
@Shonali Not sure which national paper you subscribe to, but there are really only a small handful of those, and from my experience, the quality of writing and content in those publications has dropped drastically in recent years as well. I think it’s sad, as they have all cut back due to the economy, but seem to cut back in the wrong areas.
@HowieSPM Me too – like I said earlier to @KenMueller , I mostly get my news online (counting my iPhone & iPad in that), but there are some things it’s really tough for digital to replace print successfully with. It’s interesting that you talk about getting the LA Times as a way of supporting the writers… that’s almost – almost! – the kind of personal connection/reason print media need to cultivate to survive. Most of them are really ham-handed about doing that, though, at least, as far as I can tell.
As to the trees… well, that’s another story…
@KenMueller So I lied earlier on (not intentionally). We subscribe to a national newspaper during the week (my husband likes to read the “real” thing, though I usually look at it on my iPhone or iPad – we have a print and electronic subscription), and then we subscribe to our “local” daily (which is also considered a “national” pub, but IMHO it sucks) for the Sunday paper… for… you guessed it, the coupons. Actually, now that you’ve reminded me, I need to look into the subscription, because I think they’ve been charging us more than I remember the promo saying they would. (Don’t they always get you like that?)
I also look at online sites like CouponSurfer.com, but if I can get $1.50 in usable coupons from the paper every week, then I think it pays for itself. Because – and again, IMHO – the reporting is terrible.
The paper we subscribe to every day, though? That’s another story. The reporting’s not fluffy. And that’s what I think newspapers have to aim for. I’ve even cut down my magazine subscriptions to just one (I used to subscribe to a whole bunch of them) because most of them are useless.
@ShakirahDawud They really do. What can I say? I love print.
@rachaelseda You had a coach who won Miss America?! That’s kinda cool. What context did she mention you in?
I think we still have the papers we saved from 9-11, and also the San Diego Union Tribune from when my mother-in-law passed away. I don’t know what I’ll do with these… either put them in an album, or maybe make a piece of artwork from them…. but it’s really cool to actually have them in my hands.
i have given up print for digital for most news. but i always got the LA times for years and years because i knew digital was not replacing the print revenues just as a form of support for the writers. but for reasons of saving editions digital doesn’t cut it. on the flip side we need to ave the trees!
@rachaelseda @dotpeople Thanks much for sharing. :)
Great story. Yet I fear the death of newspapers as they seek to retain relevance. We went from subscribing every day to just Sundays, to canceling, due mostly to budgetary reasons, but also because there was almost nothing in the paper we felt we needed, especially that couldn’t be found for free online. We have since resubscribed to the Sunday paper because they offered us a great deal to come back, but we get the Sunday paper for one reason and one reason only: the ad inserts/coupons. We get more in return from those coupons and ads than we put out for paying for the paper. We get an incredible return on our investment.
If I could get all those ads and coupons in one place, easily, without having to pay for the paper, or perhaps paying less…I’d be happier than a pig in mud.
I know you can get all that stuff individually in a number of places, but the person who creates the “Sunday Insert” app or web service, will be doing me, and a lot of other people a huge favor. Though I imagine the newspaper industry wouldn’t be very happy.
Just the size and blackness of the headlines have an impact like no other, really.
YES! I remember the newspapers I held onto as a child of the 1999 World Cup victory and of Princess Diana’s death and of my coach who mentioned me when she won Miss America 2001 – and yes I still have them!
@cision Yea, there are some things that still don’t translate that well electronicallly… it wil be interesting to see what it’s like 5, 10, 20 years from now. Assuming we’re around, that is, LOL!
Thanks for stopping by!
Thanks for the post Shonali!! I still have a newspaper subscription too, and I love it. I love the feel of the paper in my hands and there have been many I have saved over the years because of pictures and, like you said, a momentous even that brings the globe together.