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Who buys a newspaper?

(163 Posts)
LaCrepescule Fri 15-May-26 04:32:41

Interested to know who buys a print copy or digital access to a newspaper. I’ve been relying on free digital access to the BBC and the Guardian but think it’s time I put my hand in my pocket (as if we’re.)

I love the idea of getting a paper delivered but it’s expensive compared to
digital access. But there really is something about reading the print copy of a newspaper.

Nell82 Fri 15-May-26 11:50:09

I confess to buying the Daily Mail at regular intervals, purely for the puzzles section. I pass it on to my friend who uses it to line her cat's litter tray. (I hope that's saved my reputation)

Chocolatebiscuit Fri 15-May-26 13:34:27

This might upset someone.

Our first DD died suddenly aged 7 months back in 1976 and we had her funeral 4 days later. At my PILs home I picked up the local weekly rag that had just been delivered. It was the Christmas issue and there on the front page was a column headed Baby Found Dead In Cot and a 4 inch long column all about our daughter's death. We knew nothing about the newspaper article, none of us had spoken to the press and what was printed was not what had happened. I still would love to give the journalist and the editor a good kicking. More than anything it taught me to never believe a word in the press or media.

nanna8 Fri 15-May-26 13:37:06

I spend most time doing the crosswords, more interesting than the news usually !

Visgir1 Fri 15-May-26 13:37:48

J52

We have The Times every day. DH subscribes and gets vouchers, also an on line version. He pops to the village newsagents every morning, he’s an early riser.
In fact he’s reading it now, I’ve just finished the crossword. Not the cryptic one, it frustrates me having to think about it for most of the day!

We do too... Love the sunday magazines. He reads the paper and I read on my phone. We also have a local paper delivery every evening by the paperboy.

Tenko Fri 15-May-26 13:46:47

No , I haven’t bought a newspaper for years . I have digital Times and Sunday Times . One of the bonuses of a digital paper is that you can access previous issues and save articles .
My mums flat is full of old newspapers and folders full of articles cut out of the paper . She’s a hoarder , I’m the opposite and in the past would put newspapers in the recycling as soon as I’d finished.

Rocketstop2 Fri 15-May-26 13:53:09

I just buy a Saturday paper as it has a decent TV guide and some good puzzles/crosswords, don't have much interest in the paper itself !

winterwhite Fri 15-May-26 14:09:22

I do regret the disappearance of good local papers. There is nothing where we live now.

DianneAngel Fri 15-May-26 15:49:15

I only buy 1 to put under the cat's litter. Best use of newspaper in my opinion. hugs

Anneeba Fri 15-May-26 15:55:33

Saturday treat, my husband goes and buys me the Guardian. I read it online other days and make a standing order for it. God help us if it ever goes under...

ginnycomelately Fri 15-May-26 16:28:18

Love a newspaper

Clawdy Fri 15-May-26 16:33:32

The Guardian every weekday, Observer on Sundays. Have a subscription which makes it cheaper.

argymargy Fri 15-May-26 16:52:17

Chocolatelovinggran

I buy a Saturday newspaper and read it through the weekend.
argymargy, the free newspaper given by Waitrose was The Telegraph.

Good God no! I would never even glance at the Torygraph! You could have whichever newspaper you wanted actually - well that was the case in my local Waitrose.

MayBee70 Fri 15-May-26 17:05:09

M0nica

The joy of the printed paper over digital media, is that digital media only show the top stories and stories that your algorithm shows. A good newspaper will show a wide range of stories across all genres with no personalisation.

The number of things I have learnt about or discovered by a random article in s newspaper is beyond counting. It rarely happens after reading digital media

Yes, we have papers a day most days.

I’ve often found random articles in old newspapers that I didn’t pick up on at the time but then make sense of events that then happened. Can’t happen now as we switched to online during covid. But it did curb my obsession with cutting out and keeping old newspaper articles which started with me saving Katherine Whitehorns articles in the Observer.

BlueSapphire Fri 15-May-26 17:35:06

I have a subscription to the Telegraph, have it delivered every day, and read it cover to cover. I love the puzzle pages. It suits me and I like it.

silverlining48 Fri 15-May-26 17:43:28

We get the ‘I’every Saturday for the news articles puzzles snd weekly TV guide. It’s only £2 compared to others half price and I think is supposed to be Independent.

Aely Fri 15-May-26 17:56:26

In the 70s I bought the Telegraph every weekday to read on my commute to London (often in the Guards Van as the train was over-subscribed). By the time I got to Waterloo I had read everything as far as the Commodity Prices (useful in my work). I continued to buy it, mainly for the crossword, when I stopped working (children) but stopped when it reached the exorbitant price of 8p. I just couldn't afford it. Then I alternated between an occasional Mail or Express, depending on which was cheaper. I also bought both editions of our local paper each week.

These days, with papers well over-priced (including the Local which is an eye-watering £3.60 a copy with maybe a single page of local-to-me news) I rely on hopefully grabbing the Metro, when I am travelling into town by bus.

eazybee Fri 15-May-26 18:08:54

I read the DT in digital form, on my tablet or phone, hate being without a newspaper.
Printed newspapers are spoiled by huge advertisements but I do miss newspaper for cleaning shoes and silver on.

Gin Fri 15-May-26 18:15:57

We have The Times, Sunday Times (vouchers) local and ‘This Week’ . OH reads everything, rarely sits down without the paper. I rarely look at the main bit but read Times2 and am addicted to Killer and Kakuro puzzles.

I only discovered the other day how much the paper bill is, even with vouchers it is expensive.

I read BBC News pages daily.

Redrobin51 Fri 15-May-26 21:15:53

We have The Times delivered each day. I hate reading news on a tablet. We have a subscription which makes it cheaper.

Meandrogrog Fri 15-May-26 23:29:06

I can read some newspapers through Libby, the library app, for free although I prefer a paper copy. Some of the weekend papers are quite expensive with the supplements etc.

Madmeg Sat 16-May-26 01:14:08

Guardian daily and Observer on Sundays, with a subscription for the papers themselves and delivery by an independent firm who are very realiable and they're easy to cancel for holidays or you can still buy the papers in the shops while away and use the vouchers.

Bigred18 Sat 16-May-26 06:36:11

I have online subscriptions to our 2 dailies, but do buy a paper on Sunday for the tv guide!

silverlining48 Sat 16-May-26 12:50:42

This is reminding me of an early episode of 7 Up where three 7 year old prepschool boys sat together on a sofa and told the interviewer which public school they would be going to and what newspaper they each read. Instead of the Dandy etc this group read The Telegraph, Observer and Times which I found amusing, but not entirely unbelievable as they were all so very sure of their futures.
For those who havnt watched 7Up it began in 1964 with a group of 7 year olds children from all parts of society who were interviewed every 7 years. They are all now 70. It’s incredibly interesting and I am very much looking forward to watching the final episode as they all reach 70 to be released sometime this year.

BoggledMind Sat 16-May-26 13:32:27

I haven’t bought a physical newspaper for some time. If my memory is correct, the last one I bought was a regional paper.

I get my news online, predominantly from the BBC. I do read newspaper websites but a lot seem to be like gossip magazines now.

LaCrepescule Sat 16-May-26 14:31:40

Interesting to think that our grandchildren will almost certainly never pick up a newspaper. It’s our generation who are keeping the printed versions in circulation.
I remember people on the tube in the 80s who somehow managed to read their broadsheets by folding the pages in half. When everything slowly went tabloid, it was a revelation. I suppose it’s progress and personally I haven’t read a printed newspaper in years.
But for those who do buy a newspaper, enjoy it while it lasts. I do remember spreading out the weekend newspapers on the floor and it was one of life’s great pleasures to slowly work my way through all the sections.