Field Notes Inside an Integrated Communications Agency

I like my morning newspapers.  And I mean the original – the ones I can hold in my hands, get ink stains on my finger and read at the breakfast table with my morning cup of coffee.    I pay attention to where stories are placed on the page, how large the headline type is and what sidebar stories accompany them.  So I have been intrigued and interested in learning more about why so many of my younger colleagues and friends get their news online.  What are they missing by not picking the paper up out of the driveway each morning?  What am I missing by not getting my morning news from my desktop?

Each morning, by habit, I quickly scan the front page, the local and state sections, the obituaries and the editorial pages before I settle on which stories will claim my initial attention and the majority of my limited time.  My impression is that online readers may be more disciplined than I am about reading one “section” of the paper before going on to the next “page.”  

In my reading, I’m sometimes drawn to stories on a page – because of pictures or key words - that I’m not sure would catch my attention the way stories appear in the online version.  So my theory is that I’m getting a few extra “tidbits” that either enlighten and inform me or at the very least serve as interesting conversational items for a later time.   

But when I talk to folks who read the paper online, they remind me how easy it is if you’re reading a story and want more information to navigate away from that page and get more in-depth analysis or a different take on the same story reported in several different publications.

As my husband will attest, I also love to share the stories I’m reading with him, by pulling out quotes or sections to read aloud or engage in my own analysis of the stories I’m readying – interrupting his reading of the Wall Street Journal just long enough for him to lose his complete train of thought – but that’s another story.

But I’m still exploring the pros and cons of the way news is being delivered.  While I still love my “hands-on” experience with the morning paper, I’m open to the new on-line experience as well.  I don’t want to miss anything, so I find myself checking out the on-line version of the morning newspaper several times through the day for updates and new stories.

For folks like me I think there is not only room for both, but a need for both.  I don’t want to give up my morning routine but I also want to have the most current information.  How we get our news, how it impacts our lives, how it influences the decisions we make, how it affects politics and economics and so many other things is all a part of the mix for me as I continue to explore.