I'm a devotee of the newspaper. We subscribe to two daily papers, and bookmark others. I love the internet and blogs - but newspapers do much of the original reporting, and they do a good job holding government, health plans, and providers accountable. The Boston Globe recently won an award for its health care coverage -- and an indication of its importance to my blog is that 15 of the 94 posts over these past 6 months have a direct reference or a hyperlink to a Boston Globe article.
So
* Buy a newspaper when you can - don't just share
* Subscribe if you're a frequent reader
* Don't cancel your subscription when you realize the stories are on the web site in a more timely matter - or pretty soon they won't exist at all!
* Be nice to a reporter, or editor, or printer or driver. I was horrified on Friday evening when I saw the nasty comments on the boston.com web site accompanying the first news of the threatened closure. The reporters I know are hard-working and sincere -and they are increasingly endangered.
I don't have an answer to the business model problem facing newspapers today. The Washington Post makes more money from Stanley Kaplan than its news organization, and the New York Times makes more from About.com than from the Boston Globe. If you do have a good business model idea, there is a forum at Blue Mass Group (a blog frequented by Massachusetts Democrats).
