Well it's happened...a dollar for a daily Enquirer. Starting yesterday, unannounced and without any uproar, the Cincinnati daily raised its price tag for the second time in just a few years. I sort of knew this might be coming--about a month ago, us "Indiana folk" were given a special preview when daily papers for "out of town" readers were increased to a buck and Sundays went to $2. I guess they decided to bring equality to all readers.
I still don't know why newspapers are losing money, given the quantity of advertisements. The Tuesday paper I hold in my hand is about 20 pages total and 90-percent of the content is ads. And not just regular advertisements but the "new," computer age ads that have odd shapes and force the typesetting to wrap around the odd shape. This is particularly annoying, but I'll save that for another day.
Speaking of annoying, I still fume when I remember how the Enquirer charges MORE for the Thanksgiving Day paper...with all of the additional ads, you'd think they would charge LESS since they're getting all that additional income.
When I was young, I always wanted to have a career that would garner me a special "write-up" for my obituary. Kind of a morbid thought, I know--particularly since I'll be dead and won't be able to clip the story for my scrapbook, but I digress--but the fact is becoming apparent that either a) there won't be a daily paper or, b), no one will be able to afford to buy it. I guess there's always on-line.
I am a newspaper junkie, not two ways about it. When they increased the daily paper to 75-cents from 50-cents about four years ago, I really did have second thoughts. Now at a buck, I am befuddled. If they are really that short on income, I sympathize, but they're only going to drive more people away. And then who will be the chroniclers of history when the daily paper is gone?
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