• Welcome to SportsJournalists.com, a friendly forum for discussing all things sports and journalism.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register for a free account to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Access to private conversations with other members.
    • Fewer ads.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!

Do you subscribe?

Tom Petty said:
Paper Dragon said:
Baron Scicluna said:
Paper Dragon said:
Fredrick said:
I just don't buy the symbolic gesture thing. Not when there have been so many examples of management making it tougher for people in sports to simply do their jobs. I can't in good faith donate that much money back to the company for a newspaper I can read WHILE I'M DOING MY JOB.

Good lord. I would never hire you.

Why wouldn't you hire him? If an employee is required to have knowledge of events in order to do their work, shouldn't the company provide the tools for that knowledge?

To me, it would be like a hospital making its nurses purchase their own bedpans for the patients.

Probably because I've worked with people like he describes. Always bitching about what the paper owes you and doing things or not doing things out of principal or protest. I've worked for small salaries for papers and managers I've absolutely detested but I've always subscribed, even though I can read it online or take a paper at work.

The principle is what Someguy described. If you're producing a product that you won't pay for, then why are you there? What can you do to make it better? If you're not thinking like that then you probably need to get out.

should reporters also pay for their pens and notebooks?

heck no. And they shouldn't be forced to subscribe. And they shouldn't hear any grief if they take a few extra copies for clips. But, sweet jesus, subscribe to you own product.
 
Paper Dragon said:
Tom Petty said:
Paper Dragon said:
Baron Scicluna said:
Paper Dragon said:
Fredrick said:
I just don't buy the symbolic gesture thing. Not when there have been so many examples of management making it tougher for people in sports to simply do their jobs. I can't in good faith donate that much money back to the company for a newspaper I can read WHILE I'M DOING MY JOB.

Good lord. I would never hire you.

Why wouldn't you hire him? If an employee is required to have knowledge of events in order to do their work, shouldn't the company provide the tools for that knowledge?

To me, it would be like a hospital making its nurses purchase their own bedpans for the patients.

Probably because I've worked with people like he describes. Always bitching about what the paper owes you and doing things or not doing things out of principal or protest. I've worked for small salaries for papers and managers I've absolutely detested but I've always subscribed, even though I can read it online or take a paper at work.

The principle is what Someguy described. If you're producing a product that you won't pay for, then why are you there? What can you do to make it better? If you're not thinking like that then you probably need to get out.

should reporters also pay for their pens and notebooks?

heck no. And they shouldn't be forced to subscribe. And they shouldn't hear any grief if they take a few extra copies for clips. But, sweet jesus, subscribe to you own product.

Honestly, if I didn't work for my paper, I probably would subscribe. But when I can get it for free five days a week, it doesn't make sense for me to. For the other two days, I can go without and get caught up at the office.
 
Paper Dragon said:
Tom Petty said:
Paper Dragon said:
Baron Scicluna said:
Paper Dragon said:
Fredrick said:
I just don't buy the symbolic gesture thing. Not when there have been so many examples of management making it tougher for people in sports to simply do their jobs. I can't in good faith donate that much money back to the company for a newspaper I can read WHILE I'M DOING MY JOB.

Good lord. I would never hire you.

Why wouldn't you hire him? If an employee is required to have knowledge of events in order to do their work, shouldn't the company provide the tools for that knowledge?

To me, it would be like a hospital making its nurses purchase their own bedpans for the patients.

Probably because I've worked with people like he describes. Always bitching about what the paper owes you and doing things or not doing things out of principal or protest. I've worked for small salaries for papers and managers I've absolutely detested but I've always subscribed, even though I can read it online or take a paper at work.

The principle is what Someguy described. If you're producing a product that you won't pay for, then why are you there? What can you do to make it better? If you're not thinking like that then you probably need to get out.

should reporters also pay for their pens and notebooks?

heck no. And they shouldn't be forced to subscribe. And they shouldn't hear any grief if they take a few extra copies for clips. But, sweet jesus, subscribe to you own product.

i believe the final product is the greatest working tool at the disposal of reporters and editors.

the paper should supply said working tool.

just my POV.
 
Tom Petty said:
Paper Dragon said:
Tom Petty said:
Paper Dragon said:
Baron Scicluna said:
Paper Dragon said:
Fredrick said:
I just don't buy the symbolic gesture thing. Not when there have been so many examples of management making it tougher for people in sports to simply do their jobs. I can't in good faith donate that much money back to the company for a newspaper I can read WHILE I'M DOING MY JOB.

Good lord. I would never hire you.

Why wouldn't you hire him? If an employee is required to have knowledge of events in order to do their work, shouldn't the company provide the tools for that knowledge?

To me, it would be like a hospital making its nurses purchase their own bedpans for the patients.

Probably because I've worked with people like he describes. Always bitching about what the paper owes you and doing things or not doing things out of principal or protest. I've worked for small salaries for papers and managers I've absolutely detested but I've always subscribed, even though I can read it online or take a paper at work.

The principle is what Someguy described. If you're producing a product that you won't pay for, then why are you there? What can you do to make it better? If you're not thinking like that then you probably need to get out.

should reporters also pay for their pens and notebooks?

heck no. And they shouldn't be forced to subscribe. And they shouldn't hear any grief if they take a few extra copies for clips. But, sweet jesus, subscribe to you own product.

i believe the final product is the greatest working tool at the disposal of reporters and editors.

the paper should supply said working tool.

just my POV.

FWIW, if I work at Toyota, all the cars in my garage are Toyotas - not just the car my employer provides me.
 
Paper Dragon said:
Tom Petty said:
Paper Dragon said:
Tom Petty said:
Paper Dragon said:
Baron Scicluna said:
Paper Dragon said:
Fredrick said:
I just don't buy the symbolic gesture thing. Not when there have been so many examples of management making it tougher for people in sports to simply do their jobs. I can't in good faith donate that much money back to the company for a newspaper I can read WHILE I'M DOING MY JOB.

Good lord. I would never hire you.

Why wouldn't you hire him? If an employee is required to have knowledge of events in order to do their work, shouldn't the company provide the tools for that knowledge?

To me, it would be like a hospital making its nurses purchase their own bedpans for the patients.

Probably because I've worked with people like he describes. Always bitching about what the paper owes you and doing things or not doing things out of principal or protest. I've worked for small salaries for papers and managers I've absolutely detested but I've always subscribed, even though I can read it online or take a paper at work.

The principle is what Someguy described. If you're producing a product that you won't pay for, then why are you there? What can you do to make it better? If you're not thinking like that then you probably need to get out.

should reporters also pay for their pens and notebooks?

heck no. And they shouldn't be forced to subscribe. And they shouldn't hear any grief if they take a few extra copies for clips. But, sweet jesus, subscribe to you own product.

i believe the final product is the greatest working tool at the disposal of reporters and editors.

the paper should supply said working tool.

just my POV.

FWIW, if I work at Toyota, all the cars in my garage are Toyotas - not just the car my employer provides me.

shirt, and all this time i thought you worked for honda.
 
I'm not one to advise people on their money. The point is that journalists should be reading the paper in whatever form they can: newsprint, online, proofing pages.

In disclosure, I pay $3 per month. When I'm done getting my clips and clipping coupons, the paper goes in the recycle bin five days a week, which happen to be the same editions I help proof, both news and sports pages (but no features sections because they're forking brutal). Days that I don't work, then I actually read my delivered newsprint.
 
I'm obviously not a team player, but I stopped subscribing a year ago. It became more of a hassle to scrape the paper off the driveway and into the trash can, and it cost merely $15 a year. But I just couldn't bring myself to read it, with the exception of the Sunday section (one of life's great joys, if you ask me). I work, at bare minimum, 60 hours a week, and reading a paper (see: critiquing my own work) during breakfast was driving me nuts. Don't get me wrong, I think my shop puts out a fantastic product, but for the few hours each day that I'm not at the office, I want to be as detached from work as humanly possible. I don't think that's a poor reflection on my paper or the business in general; I think it's healthy. I'll tear my own copy (and that of my coworkers) apart at the office, but damn, I need a little me time. :)
 
I subscribe. Always have, basically for the "supporting the paper" reasons, and to get the Sunday.
But I'm moving soon and was thinking about letting it go, at least during the week. Save $8 a month and a lot of recycling. We'll see.
 
I don't live in the coverage area. I can't get my paper delivered.

I have chosen not to get the local paper, because I don't think it's very good. I cancelled my subscription to the bigger, almost-local paper after a few years, because I kept winding up with a stack of the sections that interested me on living room floor. Now I read some of that online, and the rest, well... apparently I can live without it.

I do usually pick up the free weekly from the stack that's dropped off at my building, but I know the editor and a couple of staffers.
 
I haven't gotten the paper delivered to my door since 2003.

In my neighborhood, there are about 50 houses in a three-block radius, one person gets the paper daily (oldest family in neighborhood BTW...). Three used to get the Sunday only, but canceled that when the paper stopped offering it as an option.
 
I got subscriptions for my grandmothers at my old shop. I paid full price for them.

As for me, I'd pick up copies in the newsroom.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top