Comments on: The Guardian – A Review

By: Stephen Lockyer

Stephen Lockyer — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 18:49:17 +0000

While I share some sympathies with your article (the leaflets!! Let me pay a whole £2 to be leafletless!), I personally love the Saturday Guardian exactly because of its diversity. It’s the only paper I read, so it’s actually £1.90 spread over the week, and has an acute interaction with its online counterpart which feels very professionally informal. To say that you can read better articles in blogposts is to say that there’s no point in bakeries because anyone can bake their own bread. To my mind, they are two different entities. Like you, have a paper in front of me inadvertently encourages me to enhance my world view. This is a paper written by journalists who actually care – you can email any of the writers and often get a response back in minutes. To judge an article by its pageviews is to agree that the most popular is the best – is that really your view? Do you think MC Hammer is a fantastic artist simply because he sold millions of albums?
You are right though, the speed of the Sport section ending up in recycling is almost a sport in itself at my house too!

By: Linkblogging for 19/10/09 « Sci-Ence! Justice Leak!

Linkblogging for 19/10/09 « Sci-Ence! Justice Leak! — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 20:19:23 +0000

[...] And Terence Eden bought a newspaper for the first time in a decade [...]

By: Terence Eden

Terence Eden — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 16:13:11 +0000

I agree. There’s something to be said about reading sources whose politics you don’t agree with. At the very least it helps you understand how other people view the world.

By: Improbulus

Improbulus — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 15:49:09 +0000

Your points apply not just to the Guardian, of course, but in a sense all print newspapers.

I agree with the serendipity issue. The inclusion of stuff you’re not normally interested in may be annoying but also helps discover things you might not otherwise have.

There’s another point also – if people are “too” selective about what they read, they may find themselves only reading viewpoints which they agree with and be confirmed in their narrowness, rather than those which challenge them and make them think. Twitter may provide serendipity but as one mainly tends to follow people with similar attitudes, it won’t necessarily provide the alternative viewpoints.

By: kgutteridge

kgutteridge — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 13:57:23 +0000

“One good thing though. The linear nature of the paper meant that I was forced to read stories I would otherwise have skipped were I on the web.”

“The news I get in print is the news that defines the rest of the world.”

These comments are the simple reason that I subscribe to the week and still purchase 2-4 papers a week (no particular preference)
The random act of discovery, that enables me to have a broader view of the world than just the mobile/tech related news that I would otherwise spend my time reading on the web

Like you though for the actual news headlines, this has been transplanted to digital for the last ten years and in the last three completely to my phone

By: Terence Eden

Terence Eden — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 13:54:12 +0000

You’re quite right. I should also buy the weekly version. Is it smaller? I really can’t imagine reading it on the loo.

Good point about seeing the rest of the world. I find that serendipity in twitter and, to an extent, in the “Related Stories” links on websites.

By: Terence Eden

Terence Eden — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 13:52:25 +0000

I too look forward to ebook versions of papers – but I do wonder if they’ll fin a niche between the linear world of today and the intricate linking of hypertext.

I was always told the best way to judge a newspaper is to find a story with which you have intimate familiarity – then count the number of mistakes. That will tell you how accurate the rest of the paper is.

As much as I enjoyed New Scientist when I read it – it’s just more convenient to read on my phone than remembering to buy the magazine & take it with me.

By: James Heaver

James Heaver — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 13:35:09 +0000

You’ve read the saturday edition which isnt an accurate reflection of the newspaper proper. The saturday edition is designed to be read lazily in bed, nursing you through the various stages of hangover.

While you may stand by many of your comments if you read the weekday edition, i’m sure you’d find it far less random, far more coherent and understandable.

I love reading The Guardian and The Economist in print form. I can read them on the loo, I can read them on the train. I am more likely to read more of them. I enjoy reading all those obscure articles in Private Eye, not because I’m interested in orchestra politic, but it gives a wider insight into the world.

The news I get online is the news that defines me – tech, design, queer politics, open rights, freedom.

The news I get in print is the news that defines the rest of the world.

James Heaver
(23 and 3/4)

By: ianvisits

ianvisits — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 13:20:18 +0000

Like yourself, I have given up on the generic newspaper market which aims to be all things to all people.

However, I have replaced reading the generics with reading the specialists.

I get more – and generally better quality – writing from the likes of The Economist, New Scientist, etc. I occasionally dip into the more political magazines to get some broader opinion based writing, but it is a choice to do so.

To have personal opinion slotted in between serious news is not just distracting, but actually quite annoying as I like my news to be factual, not opinionated.

I still like the print format for serendipity discovery though, something which is harder with reading publications online as it is often easier to skip headlines that don’t appeal. As you also noticed, in print, you at least read the leading paragraph of each article.

I look forward to more magazines coming out in e-book format though, as I can resize the fonts at will and not have to rely on my glasses to be able to read the magazine.

Maybe then I can have the best of both worlds – the page turning disciplines of the print format, but with some of the digital tools that make reading online so much easier.