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The Added Value Of Your Daily Newspaper

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 28, 2008

Every day, folks in the newspaper business, from press operators to reporters to community columnists and publishers, talk about the fear of its demise.

The blame is mainly on that nasty ol' thing called the Internet where information is immediate and instantly accessible and free. With the humble newspaper, we might not read about a newsworthy event until, God forbid, hours after the event occurs! How uncool is that?!

Now there are plenty of lofty reasons why journalism delivered the old-fashioned way needs to stick around.

And lately many have waxed eloquently on those angles.

Call me practical, but I also use and value the newspaper for a bunch of other stuff, and I'm betting you do, too. Hard times call for tough measures and thinking out of the envelope or pushing the box or whatever. So political correctness be damned, here's a reminder of some additional uses and joys of your daily newspaper, in no particular order:

1. Soaking up floor spills. Just a few weeks ago when my neighbor down the hallway's water pipe sprang a leak in the middle of the night and I woke up to an inch of water over half my apartment, I was delighted I'd saved that stack from when I'd recently doggie-sat a friend's paper-trained pooch.

2. Rolling up a section or two and smacking, playfully of course, our friends, families and co-workers. There is simply no substitute.

3. Lining small animal cages. Besides, how do we know for sure birds, hamsters, and even exotic lizards can't read?

4. Privacy. Nothing says "don't even think about starting a conversation with me" better than the stretched out page.

5. Giving advice indirectly through a well-placed "Dear Abby" column. Her commanding advice packs a bigger punch from a newspaper clipping posted on the refrigerator door than it does from any forwarded e-mail.

6. The one-size-fits-all rain hat. Every child should be made to wear a carefully crafted newspaper hat on a rainy day at least once in their elementary school career.

7. Packing material. The fun of reading back over the crumpled-up pages wrapped around collectibles from one's last marriage or move across the country would be lost without the newspaper.

8. Change-Your-Life article clipping. This one may be psychological disorder specific, but I rip out articles that are sure to lead to great wealth, love and happiness. I don't want to read "The Secret" - I want to be inspired as I read a story on how somebody met their soulmate and made a fortune making art out of used trash bags!

9. The newspaper box. It's one of the few places left where spare change gets us way more than our money's worth.

10. And finally, sharing a newspaper with a loved one can be one of life's purest joys. I'm reminded of late afternoons growing up in Alabama, and the Anniston Star carrier would come putt-putting down the road in her VW Beetle just before David Brinkley appeared on our Zenith. I'd hand my father the "front" section and I'd read the other sections that piqued my interest. Then we'd switch. There is an intimacy created with passing a newspaper back and forth - sometimes that act starts real conversations - yet another added bonus!

So you're reading this newspaper now, and you have friends and family within whispering distance surfing the Internet or listening to CNN. Do us all a favor and rip this column from today's paper and lay it in front of them. Or stick it on the refrigerator.

Better yet, go out and buy a couple more copies to send to the folks you know will suffer should the humble newspaper become just another fond memory.

Sandra Webber is a freelance writer living in Clearwater.

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