How much time do you spend reading the paper every day?
 

I'm currently in a Intro to Mass Communication class, and we are required to subscribe to the New York Times for the duration of the semester. We are expected to read articles that apply to the class, and also bring the paper to class so that we can discuss it and view the various aspects of the paper and its stories.

Today after class I asked the professor how long it generally would take to read the paper from "cover to cover," and he replied that depending on the reader's speed, it could take anywhere from an hour, to upwards of two hours.

It certainly is packed with information and stories, and I'm curious about how much time you all spend reading the paper each day?

I don't consider myself an avid "paper reader," but I have enjoyed reading the New York Times for class, and I actually look forward to having some free time so that I can attack a section, and ultimately maybe even read the entire thing.

That being said, how long do you generally spend reading the paper on a daily basis? Also, since this is a poll, and thus might not result in many replies, I'd also be interested to know what paper you read; whether it be a nationally distributed one, or just the local paper for your town or city. Also, if you want to comment on what "method" you use to read the paper, I'd be interested to hear that as well.

Only when I'm EXTREMELY bored. So not on a daily basis. There is too much bullshit in today's papers.

5-10 minutes glance over it and read interesting stories and the sports

up to, but for the most part, not more than 30 minutes. sometimes 45. usually i'll just read the A ssection, style and metro. i get the washington post btw.

I read the local paper every day, beginning with the first page and ending with the last page. When I pick up a nationally distributed paper, I usually only read selected sections.

My local paper consists of a bunch of AP stories, a few stories of local interest with poor sentence construction and helpful hint columns about how to decide if my compost heap is ready for spreadin'.

It'll shock you to know, I don't read it all that much. I'd have to be really bored and it would have to come free for me to spend more than 15 minutes perusing the local fare.

I read my news online at various "papers"

I read NPR (national public radio news and some BBC news) online or stream the important stories . . . it offers non biased views . . . local papers and actually, most national papers seem to have strong biases . . . and it's not that NPR doesn't . . . . but it does attempt to offer both sides of every story presented . . . So, yes i spend about 30 minutes a day doing that . . . if you count "listening" to the news . . then it would be more like an hour and a half . . .

Interesting class you are taking . . . :)

Sweetpea

You know I really like NPR. We get "All Things Considered" retransmitted here on our national news radio channel. I also listen to NPR as much as I can when I'm in the US on business.

I never thought to check if they had a website.

Many many thanks for the suggestion sweetpea. You've enriched me and my daily efforts to keep informed on world and issues around me.


With regards to the question, I used to read a physical paper about 30 minutes to an hour a day. That was when I was in Sydney and the local paper (The Sydney Morning Herald) was a quality publication. Now that I've moved to Perth, the local paper is a rag. It's almost embarrassing actually. I now read the only national paper in Australia (The Australian) on a semi-regular basis. I'm thinking of getting it delivered to my door.

But every day, without exception, I spend over an hour reading the online editions of BBC, The Irish Times and the Sydney Morning Herald.


Mr Mephisto

I subscribe to The Oregonian, The Wall Street Journal, Variety, Entertainment Weekly, Maxim, FHM, Stuff, Newsweek, ESPN and Money so I spend tons of time reading periodicals. A lot of them were free from airline miles so now I'm not even reading all of them.

I read the Sydney Morning Herald online most days for around an hour (I voted 30 minutes to 1 hour). I must say I read almost every word in the sport section, peruse the technology bit, and read anything that else catches my eye on the "front" page (which is a sizable but not comprehensive) index of all sections. Their front page also has a "5 most reviewed articles" (for the SMH and the melbourne age) section which is interesting to see what everyone else is reading.

I also browse the (free) local paper which comes to the door once a week, this might take me an hour once a week for whatever catches my eye.

Sweetpea - every media outlet is biased in some way - just some or more noticeable than others. Perhaps the one you think is not biased, just has views you agree with? Just a thought...

The last time I read the paper, it was only the comics section at a taco place.

I can't even remember when the last time I actually read the paper, other than that.

We get 3 newspapers a day and I try to read at least one most of the way through, even glancing at the Sports section. I don't watch tv news, so the paper is my way of keeping up.

After working at a newspaper for a few months, I stopped reading any newspapers. It's all artificial reality, created by the journalists. The facts are twisted into a perspective that fits whatever the editor, or the publisher have in mind and want to achieve. I try to get my news from various sources, without the middleman.

I choose 1-2 hours every day, however, it isn't a newspaper. It's a handful of sites that allow me to get local/national/world news. Better than the paper because it is up to date and I don't have to pay for it :).

Yes, I'm cheap, sue me.

I've turned into such an NPR junkie. Driving out to Canada once I just happened to stumble on it. I'd heard of NPR before but never tuned in. Now it's pretty much always on my radio. Love it!


Actual newspaper though? I barely read one. I've got the internet now :)

I read about 5-10 papers a day from industry journals to some world wide papers.

I try to at least get perspectives from as many sources as I can when investigating stories.

I read cover to cover, well, at least glance at each of the articles and briefly scan the article and its headline to see if it's really worth reading the entire article. It takes about 30 mins, though I usually eat breakfast when I do read it. [The cleveland plain dealer]

Even before I learned how to read, I looked at the newspaper, scanning the sports section. My grandpa told me of a story when I was toddler, crying at breakfast while he was reading the paper, and not knowing what was such a fuss. Then, after figuring out I was pointing at the sports section, he gave me it, and I immediately quieted down. :lol:

It seems that nowadays, not as many people read the newspaper, especially the younger generation(s).

I've become less dependant on the newspaper, as it has more and more AP/wire stories that are a few days old [from online]. 'The World' show has quickly drawn me into the world of NPR, I love it :thumbsup:

I found this rather amusing.

How exactly do you do this? Visit each and every location of the stories yourself? Talk to the participants and interview them youself? Take your own photographs?

:)

Mr Mephisto

I used to take the paper, but it was all crap except for the international articles taken from other sources, so I quit taking it. I get all of my news online or from NPR now.

Used to take the paper and read it before work, but not enough time. Now I just check the papers' web sites for on line news. A true indicator of the future of print media.

I usually take about 10 minutes to glance through our local paper. I read the articles I find interesting, and always check out the sports and comic sections.

i read a lot of news articles online from fark and other places which takes some time.
i also read my school paper everyday, which has local news and some world stuff.
so close to a hour a day i think

I like to read the local paper in the morning with breakfast and sometimes in the evenings before dinner, it probably works out to about a half hour a day. Thats about all there is worth reading in the paper; anything really intresting I'll look for online later.

On the internet front, Google News is my home page. I like the way they provide plenty of links to a story and it covers most the bits of news that might be coversation fodder.

Yes, I know. In the long run it is impossible. Like you said, I'd have to be there, and talk directly to the participants, who are, sometimes, also biased in one way or another. So the only way to completely cut out the middleman is to actually be there :) . Alas, this is not what I meant. Cutting out the middleman is an ideal, to which one can strive. I do this by getting my news directly from wire services, or major news sources, and not from local media, who are, as I said, an uneccesary middleman, whose job is only to translate the text and, most of the time, add some of their own bias to the text.

I use to read the at least one paper and usually two or three papers front to back every day. Since we moved I seldom read the local paper and check out the home paper and a few others on line. I have a B.S. in Mass Communications and I am not happy with the quality of reporting that is going on these days.

15 mins in the morning with breakfast, 1/2 - 1 hour in the evening when i get home from work.

I don't tend to read all of it though, mostly just the news, and the business section if i'm feeling particulary smart/awake/adventerous.

Edit: I read the Telegraph, and live in the UK.

i do read the local paper but i quite often find that after reading said rag i can feel myself getting stupider! ....... must be the gutter level hack journo's that write the drivel that goes into that paper!
damn!

I read three newspapers a day.
All online so it's just the headlines
and obituaries that get most
of my attention. The Washington Post
because its the birth area. Best sports section ever!
All the while I keep local news on the tube.

I don't read a physical newspaper, but I read online newspapers every morning and catch some morning news before work.

don't read it, never have

I read the Sunday New York Times. That's it.

I don't really like reading the newspaper. Negative articles from beginning to end. I do read articles from fark.com though

I read the paper during breaks at work. I'll read a few articles while I eat breakfast before I start, then a few more whenever I have a few minutes to kill. All together, I'd say 45 minutes of my day is spent buried in the paper.

i voted for upto 30 mins...i usually read the paper at lunch if they have it...i do get the daily paper at home so sometimes when i dont read it at lunch i may browse thru it.

30-1hour on avg.

Probably 1.5 hours a day, all online. I read the local paper for local stories, the closest metro paper (SJ Mercury News) for regional and tech news and some national news, and the NY Times, the LA Times, and the Washington Post online. Obviously I don't read everything.

One thing I also do is visit a number of news "meta-sites," sites that compile news or links to articles from a variety of sources. I visit the progressive metasite truthout.org on a daily basis, and that sends me on to a number of different papers. The metasite rtumble.com links daily to regional news and political coverage on papers throughout California. And there are other sites that publish their own daily articles, like Soldiers for the Truth or the Guerrilla New Network.

I generally stick to CNN.com and the BBC's news websites. They're generally a lot more up date date for obvious reasons. I'd say I spend 30-60 min on those sites, but I voted "I don't read the paper" because I didn't know if they counted or not.