When we went away it was £3.50; now it's £4.
The only newspaper I buy is The Sunday Times. It consists of a main newspaper, a sport section, a homes section, a financial section, plus usually three separate magazines; one for TV, one for women's fashion, and another for general interest subjects.
The amount of advertising throughout all the sections is unbelievable. The amount of actual 'journalism' is almost nothing in comparison.
Of course I read the actual news pages, and I also read the editorial pages. I read the letters page, and one or two of the better feature writers. The amount I actually read would probably fit on two or three pages of a broadsheet. We also play our weekly game of choosing a house on page 3 of the homes section. The rest, frankly, is of no interest.
With all the advertising, I often feel as if they should be paying me to read their wretched paper. Why should I have to pay to avoid looking at adverts?
So, has there been 50p's worth of improvement over the three months that we've been away? The answer has to be a definite NO.
The only time I buy a paper these days is when I go into hospital.
ReplyDeleteFrom my memory it was the highlight of the day when the papers were brought round. Not for me of course, but for those I was visiting.
DeleteYou really don't know how a paper is financed, do you? No, not by you. By advertising. Do you have any idea how much a quarter/half/full page costs the advertiser and fills the publishers' much depleted coffers? Believe it or not, those journalists, those columnists you think write for your entertainment - not to mention those behind the curtains of production - need to eat too.
ReplyDeleteBefore you berate me, as usual when my view doesn't fit yours, let me point out that I do know the intricacies from the horse's mouth, being more than familiar with the industry.
Truffle greetings, snout in earth,
U
PS In order to save yourself £4.00 why not write your own articles?
You make my point perfectly. With all that money they rake-in from the adverts, they should be paying me to bring it home!
DeleteUrsula makes an ideal newspaper , she writes shit and believes it
DeleteI'm sure she knows that John.
Delete"The Sun on Sunday" is only £1.40. You could save yourself £2.60 a week and its language is much easier to access. It's so easy that even gorillas understand it.
ReplyDeleteThe quality of the paper is probably reflected in its price. Even if they have a 'Page 3' on Sundays, I still wouldn't buy it.
DeleteThe amount of payback to shareholders is what is reflected in a newspapers price. The 'quality' is what they want you to be fed. It's fodder to the masses, in this case Tory, and they get what they want from you.
DeleteAnd yet you keep supporting it in all of it's 'glory'?
ReplyDeleteOf course; it's the best that Britain has to offer.
DeleteBoth Murdoch newspapers
ReplyDeleteHe has to be forgiven something; but not too much.
DeleteFor all the issues you list, many people no longer read newspapers.
ReplyDeleteI used to read The Daily Mail online (like the Majority of Brits) but it became so trashy. I think they were dumbing-down for all their non-Tory readers.
DeleteI miss the print papers
ReplyDeleteOne a week is enough for us.
DeleteI read on line, have done for 20 years. I pay 22 pence a day for it but that's because I don't want to read the Grauniad.
ReplyDeleteNo-one wants to read The Grauniad, that's why it has just 10% of the readership of The Daily Mail.
DeleteWe always used to get a Sunday paper with all it's additions. They're one of the things we have economiser on. I wonder how much ours cost now. Used to be 4 euros.
ReplyDeleteI used to buy English language magazines too. No more
I would like not to buy The Sunday Times, but Lady M insists that I go to buy it every Sunday morning at 7.30 am sharp!
DeleteI found your real estate game very interesting, wouldn't mind seeing more. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteWe do it every week, and it's surprising how many times we agree on the house we'd buy.
DeleteMay I recommend a jigsaw puzzle. ;)
ReplyDeleteI've just been downstairs for my breakfast, and the papers are still spread all over the floor. A jigsaw would be tidier!
DeleteI’ve not bought one for years
ReplyDeleteVery wise John, I wish I could say the same.
DeleteWe stopped getting a newspaper several years ago. At first we missed it. Then we didn't. Then we tried just picking up a Sunday paper... didn't work. Times have changed. I don't even buy magazines anymore. They're mostly ads... and now cost about $12!
ReplyDeleteThat's what annoys me; we all paying to look at adverts. Crazy.
DeleteSounds just like our Sunday paper which is now $4, with the Saturday one also being $4 now while Monday to Friday papers are $2.80. I buy them anyway, for the puzzles pages which have 12 assorted puzzles over a two page spread and takes up about an hour each morning.
ReplyDelete