Content? What Content?
A friend of mine cancelled his LA Times and got this e-mail from the paper telling him about all the great...coupons...he's missing. Oh yeah, and then they do mention "a national weekly magazine with celebrity features" -- I think, meaning Parade:
Subject: Reminder: Don't miss out on receiving Times Select every SundayDear SoCal Consumer,
This is to remind you that if you don't want to miss out on FREE money-saving coupons and more every Sunday, immediate action is required.
ACT NOW and the Los Angeles Times will deliver Times Select to your doorstep - at NO COST!
Every Sunday, you can enjoy receiving.
•Money-saving coupons for local stores
•Special advertising inserts from major retailers
•A national weekly magazine with celebrity features/news
If you want to start getting Times Select at NO CHARGE, click below.
Thanks,
Los Angeles Times
For us, canceling our local paper meant a loss of bird cage liners.
Dwatney at May 17, 2010 7:35 AM
Hitch was talking about this on Cspan yesterday, how newspapers have been marketing themselves to youth as fun 'n breezy lifestyle accessories rather than sources of pesky, unpleasant news.
Crid at May 17, 2010 7:38 AM
A couple of weeks ago, the local paper started delivering to our house, even though we aren't subscribed. We aren't sure if it's a clerical error or if they are trying to entice us to subscribe. Either way, all they are accomplishing is to clutter up our yard and make us angry that we have to go pick up the damn things and throw them in the trash.
Cousin Dave at May 17, 2010 7:41 AM
My wife loves Parade magazine. The MONITOR stopped including it, and so we no longer buy the Sunday MONITOR when we are in McAllen.
I kind of like it. It's not fantastic, but I read it.
I learned to read from a newspaper as a child. In those days, accurate reporting was still considered ideal. As they changed to political activism, I lost interest and based on the current economics of newspapers, so have most people.
irlandes at May 17, 2010 7:43 AM
I don't get the paper, but the coupons are usually online anyway. True, the savings do off set the cost of the Sunday rag, but I can't bear to read Booth Moore, so I don't buy it.
KateC at May 17, 2010 8:13 AM
I dumped home delivery of the Austin American-Statesman and the Houston Chronicle several years ago for the very same reasons. They stopped reporting the news and started infusing every story with political ideology. My favorite features, the things that made the paper enjoyable to me on a daily basis, all disappeared. It's a shame. I grew up reading the paper, and I miss it. I really enjoyed Parade, however. I enjoyed the gossip column in the front, and the features were usually entertaining. But not enough to justify buying a Sunday paper at newsstand rates.
roadgeek at May 17, 2010 8:28 AM
I really like the LA times. When I line the gunea pig cage with The Register, the ink gets all over my fingers, and I worry when the pigs chew on the pages, but the LA times stay nice and clean, and the boys don't seem to enjoy chewing on it as much. It's really a superior product.
Heidi at May 17, 2010 8:56 AM
Heidi, you married?
Crid at May 17, 2010 10:52 AM
For us, canceling our local paper meant a loss of bird cage liners.
What? you don't get weekly circulars from your local grocery stores noting what specials they have running via the USPS?? They make great cage liner, and are less insulting to your bird's intelligence.
I R A Darth Aggie at May 17, 2010 10:59 AM
No, Crid, I'm not. *insert crazy guinea-pig lady jokes here*
Heidi at May 17, 2010 12:01 PM
Why should the bigs be any different from the alt-weeklies dropping Amy in favor of copy-paste crap I can get anywhere?
Nobody reports news. That turns people off, because it's learning. What's GaGa doing?
Radwaste at May 17, 2010 3:37 PM
It is kind of funny to me, I canceled my local paper a month ago. It seemed I didn't learn much new in it! So i thought why continue paying for something I read less and less. Thought I would watch TV or look on the internet for local news instead.
Well, old habits die hard. I usually have something else going on when the local news comes on TV. And Internet reporting for town seems to be less detailed.
And now as I'm learning when talking to others around town of late, I'm not tuned in to local goings on.
Think I'll start recording the local TV news.
JT at May 17, 2010 3:40 PM
weekly circulars
I think the total area of our cage bottoms far exceeds the area of our meager weekly circular.
Dwatney at May 17, 2010 7:03 PM
Did anyone happen to read the Lotusland Dog Trainer this morning? There was a three column article above the fold, with huge photos and a generous halo of surrounding white space, about some rural cracker who was surprised to learn that one of his ancestors FOUR CENTURIES AGO was a black man.
That's where their heads are at. The Los Angeles Times is going to spend its dying breath cobbling together these sitcom-style depictions of hillbillies compelled to admit that we're all just the same underneath. That's what 'news' means to those fuckers: psychotherapeautic narratives for the mentally retarded.
The end can't come soon enough. I want them to lose their jobs, default on their mortgages, and forfeit their marriages in an an alcoholic haze of bitterness and incomprehension. And I swear to God, on the day that it All Turns to Shit for them and they close that famous and Godforsaken cafeteria, I'm going to drive downtown and dance a little jig on Spring Street.
Blog readers from the region will be permitted to come out and observe this celebration. A small serving of complimentary alcoholic refreshment will be offered to those with proper ID. It will be a good time of high spirits and confident hopes for a brighter tomorrow in the Golden State.
Crid [CridComment at gmail] at May 17, 2010 9:16 PM
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