Ah, the Newspaper …

When you pick up a newspaper, what do you read first?

Front page?
Local News?
Sports?
Obituaries?
Business?
Editorial?
Homes?
Movie guide?
or … perhaps … the Comics?
Even as newspapers shrink (classified ads, in-depth stories, pages, profits, staff), we still take our local daily, the Halifax ‘Chronicle Herald.’
There is still a tinge of discovery as we pluck it out of the box and unfurl the front page, to check the banner headline.
This news junkie also consults their on-line and e-editions several times per day, with alerts from them, and from CBC News, CNN, BBC News and NPR News. So, whenever a big story breaks, the room hears a chorus of alert bleeps, on both the iPhone and iPod touch!
The rule here is that my wife actually gathers the ‘paper, so she gets to read it first.
After that’s finished, the next few minutes, depending on the time available, may go something like this:
1. Check the front page.: Top story. I was lucky enough to work on a summer job as a reporter in their newsroom, so I always need to check the ‘hard news.’ Sometimes, they run a ‘Feature’ as top story, and that’s o.k., too.
If there’s time for a more leisurely read, I’ll check the front page top of these sections: Business, Opinions, Sports (glance only ), (Wheels, Homes - of little interest), Community and Arts & Life.
If we have news of a death from our personal sources, I’ll check the Obituaries. I used to write obits during reporter days, when they were free news items; now they’re paid for, as part of the service package by funeral directors.
2. OR … I go directly to ‘Comics’ on back page, and scroll down the funnies.
My faves?
Later.