The Decline of the Great American Newspaper

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My father relishes his Sundays. There are no games to coach, no trains to catch, and no kids to get off to school. He gets up before the rest of us, even before my mother gets her first cup of coffee (which is a feat in itself) and heads outside, starts up the truck, and begins his morning. His first stop is always the dump where he beats the traffic and chaos that the later hours of the day will bring. His second stop is the Village Market, our local grocery store where he usually picks up a bag of bagels, eggs if we need them, and if he is feeling spontaneous a bottle of Hornstra’s chocolate milk. The items on his list are never quite the same, but there is one thing he always brings back: The Boston Sunday Globe. Upon his return he usually makes his prized breakfast sandwiches for all of us. Once we are all fed and happy, he finally sits down, laying out the globe in front of him while he enjoys what he considers a masterful breakfast sandwich. He looks through every single section, flips every single page, and reads a good majority of the articles. My father looks so at peace and content every time I see him read that paper like nothing but the tiny black text that covers those pages exists. He has his Sunday morning ritual down to a science, and at the heart of it is that newspaper.

The reason I share that story is because it makes me think a lot about what my life will be like when I am his age. I try to picture myself, like my father, sitting down at the kitchen table on an early Sunday morning and reading The Boston Globe front to back. But every time I try– I am unable to actually envision it. I have grown up in a world where The Boston Sunday Globe is no longer a widely cherished ritual. Instead I have grown up in a world where newspapers appear close to extinction and twitter feeds are considered reliable news sources. According to The Washington Post, “Average daily circulation of all U.S. newspapers has been in decline since 1987,” and in 2009 US newspaper circulation rates hit their lowest point in seven decades, losing 10.6% of paying readers from April to September (Ahrens). The situation hasn’t improved since then and journalists all across the nation have been trying to puzzle out what the causes are and if there is a solution.

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