Stuff vs Hard Copy Newspapers

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#1514587 16-Mar-2016 16:20

To be honest, I have not found a printed newspaper in NZ that can hold a candle to things like the Washington Post, London Times etc etc.

When 'World' news merits only a half dozen pages (filled with reprints from overseas papers rather than actual journalism) out of the overall number, it reduces the entire publication to little more than a local rag, regardless of what the editors like to think of their organs.

noroad

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#1514649 16-Mar-2016 18:08

wait... they still print newspapers ?

JimmyH

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#1514662 16-Mar-2016 18:42

I only very occasionally go to either nzherald or stuff - usually only when there's something local breaking.But mostly they seem just feature "minor B-grade celebrity spotted in Morrinsville", or "Tibby the three-legged cat stuck in a drain" fluff.

On balance I prefer the Herald. The content isn't much better, in fact it's pretty much rubbish on both sites. But at least the Herald has the option to never autoplay videos. Stuff, on the other hand, always starts to automatically play every banal embedded video whenever I happen to scroll down and my mouse pointer inadvertently touches the embedded object. Unlike the Herald there is no disable autoplay option.

My regular morning news trawl at the moment consists of a quick skim of the stories on the Telegraph, Washington Post and Radio NZ websites. If I have any time, Al Jazeera, the English language version of Der Spiegel, and the BBC are also worth a look. NZ websites are pretty pitiful when compared to actual new sites.

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#1514663 16-Mar-2016 18:43

Geektastic: ... When 'World' news merits only a half dozen pages .... out of the overall number, it reduces the entire publication to little more than a local rag ...

Six pages? Often less.

I cancelled all printed newspaper subscriptions 10 years ago.

EDIT:

The Independent, Once a British News Power, Will End Its Print Edition (Jan 2016)

Back in 2000, Former Oracle/Microsoft exec Dick Brass famously predicted that the last print edition of The New York Times would roll off the presses in 2018.

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#1514708 16-Mar-2016 20:30

My wife and I have been subscribers to pressreader.com for several years now. It is a Canadian company and costs us around $30usd per month. We have access to 2880 Magazines and 2200 newspapers world wide including all the Fairfax papers. The papers are a full digital copy of the published paper or magazine. Prior to subscribing we were paying around $NZ70 for two daily newspapers plus the Sunday Times. Now we are paying mid $NZ40 for heaps of reading.

On iPads the papers that we select for automatic download are waiting for us when we wake each morning. Not quite so automatic on my Win10 Surface pro but it's only a click or so away.

For my subscription I have full access to the digital copies of PC Tech Authority, PC Advisor, APC, and lots more. Can't recommend it highly enough. On occasion I've had to contact their support and their resolution response and result has been excellent.

TinyTim

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#1514716 16-Mar-2016 20:47

I spend all day and half the evening in front of a screen (like now!); I like to read the paper to get away from my screen - usually lunchtime or dinner time once the kids have abandoned their meals - it's a relaxing time. I do flick to the Stuff website once or twice during the day but it's simply to see if anything big has happened. (RadioNZ website is usually better, just a bit light in content.)

Likewise, I used to read the monthly magazine from my professional society over lunch. Now it's online only and I read the article headlines when emailed to me but I almost never read any of the articles any more.

RE newspaper quality - I find the business news and the international news the best written.

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fizzychicken

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#1514726 16-Mar-2016 21:25

I'm convinced stuff and nzherald employ someone who just browses reddit all day and picks a few things out normally to reappear as NZ news 2 days later. Also article titles that dont give away any information other than 'you'll be surprised' or 'the result may shock you' make me want to gag. I still get all my news from http://news.bbc.co.uk

edited because I dont know how to link

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Geektastic

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#1514751 16-Mar-2016 22:02

Sideface:

Geektastic: ... When 'World' news merits only a half dozen pages .... out of the overall number, it reduces the entire publication to little more than a local rag ...

Six pages? Often less.

I cancelled all printed newspaper subscriptions 10 years ago.

EDIT:

The Independent, Once a British News Power, Will End Its Print Edition (Jan 2016)

Back in 2000, Former Oracle/Microsoft exec Dick Brass famously predicted that the last print edition of The New York Times would roll off the presses in 2018.

I enjoy reading proper print papers. Website news is nowhere near the experience of the printed page and I do not own an iPad which seems to be required to read facsimile print versions these days for some reason.

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#1514757 16-Mar-2016 22:13

fizzychicken:

I'm convinced stuff and nzherald employ someone who just browses reddit all day..

And twitter!

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#1514765 16-Mar-2016 22:24

While we are about it, what about The Amazing Journal of Medical Factoids (aka The Listener). Used to enjoy this when it was good, but now I only read Clifton, book reviews, and food... I gave up on Ralston when I discovered he was a scion of the National Party.

edit: Except when food is paleo and bachelorized...

gml

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#1514833 17-Mar-2016 08:53

Before we cancelled our subscription, most of the articles my partner was reading the Sunday Star Times, I could find online in stuff. Can't remember the last time I actually read a physical newspaper. You rarely see them now on trains or buses, most commuters are on their gadgets instead. It's not a matter of if, but when the plug is pulled on the printed newspaper. Specialist magazines may last a little longer.

For my daily go-to news, I'd use https://news.google.com/

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#1514839 17-Mar-2016 09:03

Our local newspaper (Manawatu Standard) is $1.60 a copy now. Monday's issue typically contains 18 pages. If I ever want to read it, I'll walk down to the local branch library and read it for 'free' since my rates bill is indirectly paying for it to be there.

I can also read the DomPost at the library, which tends to have a lot more content.

Stuff.co.nz has a couple of good articles here and there, but probably 75% of it is brain dead garbage now. Of user comments on the articles, probably 95% of those are brain dead garbage (and I'm being kind with that estimate).

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#1514848 17-Mar-2016 09:14

Then there are the "articles" that use incorrect or misleading headlines or photos.

For example the one yesterday with the "boyracer" running over the passenger of the car he was racing. Headline suggested they'd run over some innocent party. Photo was of a car from a legitimate, Motorsport NZ permitted race event.

I'm in full agreement about the vomit inducing "You'll never guess what happened next" style of clickbait and generally avoid them completely.

Stuff used to be a useful news source. Not any longer.

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#1514905 17-Mar-2016 10:20

I ditch Stuff for NewsHub.

BurningBeard

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#1515883 18-Mar-2016 21:34

I'm just thinking out loud here... but going by what I've seen in The Press in print, there's been a steady decline in advertising, I'm assuming as businesses realise people aren't reading newspapers as often - why bother when you can get the quick rundown on stuff.co.nz on your lunchbreak?

Where are they to get their revenue from? Paid newspaper subscriptions have gone through the floor.

All they're left with are online subscriptions, and money from advertisers.

Trouble is, people have evolved away from even noticing ads.

They probably need that click-fodder to keep their viewership up so it looks good for the advertisers.

Enter "sponsored content." Which I can't envision doing very well either.

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