I'm going to resubscribe to the News & Record.

I let my subscription lapse after the paper's Amendment 1 fiasco, a meltdown that went beyond the failure to editorialize on the biggest civil rights issue in recent North Carolina history to some serious news-side myopia and misjudgment. There was no heated moment when I canceled delivery of the newspaper that (with its predecessors) I've been reading pretty much since I learned how to read. Instead, the renewal notice sat on my desk for weeks, and I just couldn't see myself writing a check to the people who had let this city down in so many ways over the past five years, much less their feckless owners in Virginia. Eventually, they stopped leaving it in my driveway.

So for a few months I lived without a local daily. I didn't feel starved for news, largely because the N&R's reporting gets circulated and filtered through online media, but I wasn't seeing everything, and I missed the routine of reading the paper with my morning coffee.  And honestly I felt like I was freeloading by getting the info I got via other sources; I try to support local non-profits, including news orgs, so adding one that aspires to profitability wasn't a stretch.

What will I be buying? A paper that seems to have bottomed out. Hiring Travis Fain was a boost in terms of quality and optics, and I want to encourage that momentum. There's no quick comeback from the neutron bombs in the newsroom and a laughable online strategy, but we're here in the new normal and I find that I still want the print edition of my hometown newspaper on the breakfast table every morning. 

Comments

[Triadwatch]

And the local business section is pathetic. Where will we ever see a investigative report that will go beyond 4 paragraphs and maybe be a 2 part series.

[Ed Cone]

Local business coverage has been a serious hole in the N&R's game for many years. That was I believe a conscious decision, rationalized by claiming that business news would be covered as needed in the general news hole. But huge and meaningful local stories, including some of national importance (e.g. United Guaranty's $multi-billion bubble-pop) have been largely ignored. And a lot of what they do in terms of business coverage is single-source stuff that tends to shill for the company being covered.

That said, today's look at tight times for NC hospitals was well done, timely, and on an important topic.

[Andrew Brod]

Last year I let my print subscription lapse, but in doing so I subscribed to the e-edition. Google-proofing aside, it works pretty well. The first thing I do anyway on weekday mornings is climb on a computer. On weekends, I've gotten used to plopping my laptop on the kitchen table to read the paper at breakfast. That might work better if I ever get around to buying a tablet.

That said, it'll be nice if the coming upgrade brings the N&R into the modern world. Do we know if the site will be mobile-optimized?

[sean coon]

methinks the n&r has no idea what responsive design means, andrew.

[Andrew Brod]

I guess we'll find out on Tuesday.

[Mad Dog]

The week day paper at my house goes from the drive way to the recycle bin, usually unread. The Sunday edition gets read sometimes. At $180/year, I can spend my money more wisely. As for blogging/commenting under the new restrictions, well, I guess that ain't going to happen after Tuesday.

Mad Dog