Dear Editor in Chief of the daily mundane tripe you call news,Please, stop insulting my intelligence. I know that people like sports, and people like coupons, and the comics - hey I love the comics, and some people even enjoy the weekly "which political party screwed up this time" articles, but I want more. Your paper should be about more!
I could care less about the sale ads. And when half the paper is sale ads, come on now ... what am I paying for again? And when the sports section is twice as long as the rest of the paper (minus the sales ads) I feel cheated.
I long for the days of news, REAL news! I want to know what is going on in my community besides the "fluff pieces" that you are currently drawn to. I want to know when a murderer is out on parole, and when a cop saves life, and when a robbery happens just down the road from me, without having to flip to page 3!
I am sick of the fluffy bunny "how to decorate on a dime" crap that you are running as important news while shoving the important information about school closing in my area into a one column side bar on page 9 of section D.
And I know that times are tough, and you need to hike up the cost of the paper (again) but with that cost hike I expect at least the same amount of material, not half of what I was getting. And adding more sales ads isn't going to cut it.
So please, please, please, if you want my hard-earned money, and given that I have had someone come by twice this month alone trying to get me to get a subscription, stop shoveling crap at me. You're a newspaper - how about printing some actual news for a change.
Sincerely,
A reader who has lost faith in your paper
Michelle,
ReplyDeleteI once worked on a provincial newspaper. A customer came into our office one day to tell us our newspaper was so much better than the competition.
"Your newspaper is the perfect size for the cat litter tray..."
Thanks for bringing back such fond memories.
Ash
Hello, Michelle,
ReplyDeleteIt's pretty sad, isn't it, what passes for news these days. The papers all complain about the internet putting them out of business, but they partially have themselves to blame!
So, did you really send this letter? Or are you just a whiz with Photoshop?
Warmly,
Lisabet
Nope, I didn't send it, and while I am fairly decent in photoshop, I didn't have to make this one myself. : ) There is a image generator available at http://www.fodey.com/generators/newspaper/snippet.asp
ReplyDeleteIt makes for cute promo, if you have time. You can use it as a coming soon or new release image.
There have been a couple of times I wanted to send a letter like this. I've even written a few for my campus - textbook policies, parking spots overselling, etc - but in the end I know it won't matter. So I save my energy for where I can make a difference.
Michelle
Hi Michelle
ReplyDeleteYeah, local news is what suffers when times change. Its hard to get it back. I think part of the problem is that its hard to find the leisure time newspapers were intended for. You don;t see people sitting in the sun abd reading them page by page anymore.
Hey - I love that link! I am definately going to use that someday.
Garce
Garce,
ReplyDeleteGlad you likey. I don't remember how I found it a few years back, but I have had fun with it from time to time.
Michelle
Michelle,
ReplyDeleteLike Ashley, I too worked for a small local paper. If it weren't for that paper, our area would have no news coverage at all. Both TV, radio, and bigger newspapers overlook the area, and it absolutely infuriates me. Apparently we don't have enough scandal worthy news going on here, and nobody gives a damn about the issues that should be discussed like local swamp drainage, construction permits and rezoning ordinances.
I'm with you. News papers need to figure out fast how to print more news or they're not going to make it.
Helen,
ReplyDeleteIndeed. Because we are so close to a big city, we get the newspaper for these, which is filled with tripe crap. The local paper, understandably, is more focused on community programs, and the like. But lately the small local paper has had more informative stuff in it by raw percentage, althought not by much, than the big city paper, which is saying something, since the small paper is like 6 pages!