I love reading the newspaper on paper. I generally read it online now, but I'm sure I miss lots of interesting stuff.

My partner is a newspaper addict, and has been for the almost-20 years I've known him. He saves the Living sections until he can get through all of the crossword and sudoko puzzles. I really can't imagine him without the ever-present stack of newspapers by his chair.

I really want to subscribe to our daily, but can't afford it right now. On the web, I'm more likely to just skim headlines, rather than read whole articles.

There is something comforting and "samey" about sitting down and reading a newspaper. I don't do it every day but any time I am in LA, I read the LA Times, almost religiously.

I'm a fan of the newspaper, too. Here we have a weekly that covers the Gulf Islands and a monthly magazine for this island, both delivered free to locals. The writing in the weekly is very good, and I enjoy reading through it with my morning tea, finding out what's happening on other islands, the latest travesty in the BCFerries debacle, and so on. One of the writers also does interesting, thoughtful analyses of world events. The monthly is partly informative (the police report, monthly fire department update) and partly hilariously funny (a local from an old island family has a monthly rant replete with CAPS and exclamation marks that invariably leaves me in stitches, and it can be entertaining watching old feuds hashed out in the letters to the editor). Plus, it has a monthly Corrie update, the existence of which amuses me.

When I lived in town, part of getting ready to visit the island included picking up the weekend Guardian. It was immensely satisfying to spend Saturday and Sunday mornings sitting on the deck drinking coffee and reading the paper together. A good newspaper is a pleasure indeed.

Unfortunately, the Vancouver and Victoria papers suck, IMHO. In Vancouver at least, both local dailies are owned by the same company (once owned by Mr. Black), and you have the choice of Hysterical Tabloid or Poorly Written Bundle of Fluff. The Globe and Mail is still pretty good, but they seem to be aiming for a younger demographic, and I think the paper has suffered as a result. I'll still pick up the occasional weekend Globe, but I don't go through it cover to cover as I used to. This makes me sad, partly because there was something pleasing about finding small obscure pieces of news buried deep in the inner pages, which only happens to me if I'm taking my time and savouring the whole paper-reading experience.

Our local daily is a Gannett piece of trash, unfortunately. I used to subscribe - I had a 20 year Mary Worth habit, for one thing, and I'd always subscribed to a paper wherever I lived - but when I got laid off a couple years ago I dropped it. It was surprising how rapidly I adjusted; I really don't miss it. We do have a good, thriving, free weekly here and I read that for community news.

a local from an old island family has a monthly rant replete with CAPS and exclamation marks

Those kinds of columns are hilarious! Especially when there's a repeated catchphrase from the title, where the column is called Around the Harbor and the catchphrase is something like like "...and that's what's happening Around the Harbor!"

We used to joke about having one just called "What *I* Think." We'd compose the editorial rants in a curmudgeonly voice and then end with "...and that's What *I* Think."

I have to confess that I've probably bought less than ten newspapers since I've owned a computer, except for the weekly local newspaper. I get the free 'Metro' paper in the mornings on the way to work, and I read The Times and The Guardian online.

My local paper sucks, but it has details of planning applications and that kind of thing so it's useful to some extent. But it's available online too now, so I tend not to buy it every week.

I'll always get The Sunday Paper. Lovely ritual for me.

Right now I have a Weekend subscription - Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. It makes sense, because Saturday has the Tee Vee guide. So before I had the Sunday subscription, but would have to run get a paper on Saturday.

The only saving grace about our local daily (our only local daily) is that it is better than the local TV news crews. Its news coverage is adequate, but its art/entertainment/community coverage is embarrassing. Even worse than the coverage is the quality of the writing. I realize people are on deadlines, and you're not going to end up with Pulitzer-winning prose every day, but people! Take a little pride in what you're doing!

I envy you, Miko. I like newspapers, and would love to have a good daily, but without moving, I don't think I ever will.

I was infected with the newspaper bug at a very early age. The only time I don't read the daily is when I'm on vacation. It's been sad to watch the slow slide into USA Today-style non-news, but I can't imagine not having the dead-tree paper to read. I'll check headlines online, sure, but to actually sit down and read, I've gotta have the tangible object in my hands.

Currently we get the P-I (which is meh, but preferable to the Times) and the Sunday NY Times (which is but a mere shadow of its former glory, but occasionally still risesto the job).

A good local paper is a jewel, but I haven't lived anywhere in the last few years that had a good local.

The smaller the paper the more fun it is to read.

I think it works for the very function you just mentioned, unless you've got a very active local news site w/ forums. It's just hard to keep up with the instantness of national news broadcast/web content.

We have a pretty good newspaper here, too. They recently refocused themselves on a "local matters" motto, cutting the amount and type of wire stories they run and increasing local reportage. They figure many people get the national and international news through TV, radio or the web nowadays, and they shouldn't compete for that, but do something nobody else can do better. For the most part, I think they're doing a good job.

(My mom keeps complaining that the paper is "thinner", but it's actually the same number of pages.)

They opened up their website to comments late last year, and it's become quite lively, although the number of sheer idiots posting is disconcerting. There are occasionally bright spots in the commentary, but the people who e.g. post their gruesome and original punishments for child molesters seem to outnumber them.

Dead tree papers have their advantages. It's really hard to housetrain your dog on the online version.

Late to the paper party, but my local dead tree does keep me semi-attached to the community even when I'm in hermit mode. And otherwise, how would I have found out about...
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Those kinds of columns are hilarious! Especially when there's a repeated catchphrase from the title

Exactly! The family name is New, and the columnist is the patriarch, so of course it's called Old New's Views. It always ends with, "but that's just [insert title here]." Mrs. New did a very interesting series of articles on the history of settlement on the island, too. It was completely devoid of rant.

Another small community thing--I knew I was really an islander when this particular couple stopped on the rode and gave me a ride. Plus, I got to let them know how much I enjoyed their columns.

er...stopped on the road