usa today or ny times?

carola · **Posted:** Sun Feb 09, 2003 2:16 pm

Should I read USA Today or The New York Times besides my own paper? Any recommendations? The layout in USA Today is fab and some of the articles are wonderful but I feel I'm missing something by not reading the Times.

Guest · **Posted:** Sun Feb 09, 2003 4:22 pm

Why not read both? This is a good topic: What do you deem essential newspaper reading? My daily reading routine centers largely around my region of the country, but I always read both Seattle dailies, and at least skim the Web sites of about a dozen other Pacifric Northwest dailies. I usually give a look at The New York Times, though I find the layout so stultifying that I can't stand to read the print version. I also read the weekly Seattle alternative papers, the (Portland) Oregonian, and whatever grabs my fancy on Romenesko's MediaNews site on poynter.org.

Craig Lancaster · **Posted:** Sun Feb 09, 2003 4:31 pm

<blockquote>quote:<hr>Originally posted by Jim Thomsen:
I usually give a look at The New York Times, though I find the layout so stultifying that I can't stand to read the print version.<hr></blockquote>I hear a lot of people say this. And I'll say to you what I say to them: You're insane.The New York Times is one of the most elegantly designed newspapers in the world.

dasher · **Joined:** Tue Jan 14, 2003 1:01 am **Posts:** 26

The NYT does some very impressive design work on their inside sections. The front page design is wonderful for its precision. They are masters at rating the news stories. A regular news day warrants only a one column lead head. You know it's a big news days when you see one of those three column, three line heads. And it's a huge news day when you get one of those six column heads. You know exactly what you are getting with the NYT front. I love that.

Guest · **Posted:** Sun Feb 09, 2003 5:01 pm

To each their own. The Times does some good work sometimes, like most papers do ... but I ain't kneeling at its altar.

tim · **Posted:** Sun Feb 09, 2003 6:58 pm

<blockquote>quote:<hr>Originally posted by Craig Lancaster:
I hear a lot of people say this. And I'll say to you what I say to them: You're insane.The New York Times is one of the most elegantly designed newspapers in the world.<hr></blockquote>I thought we had already confirmed Jim's insanity? He said earlier he was in search of sanity.Still...Layout and design, while related, are two different things. And I don't care for the NYT's non-modular look. Still, it's better than USA Today's one-layout-fits-all mentality. I would call it almost anything but "fab."As for the writing, USA Today has improved a great deal, but is still looking up at the Times, and the Washington Post, and others.

Phillip Blanchard · **Posted:** Sun Feb 09, 2003 7:47 pm

<blockquote>quote:<hr>Originally posted by carola:
Should I read USA Today or The New York Times besides my own paper? Any recommendations? The layout in USA Today is fab and some of the articles are wonderful but I feel I'm missing something by not reading the Times.<hr></blockquote>Am I the only one who assumed that this query was made tongue-in-cheek?

Guest · **Posted:** Sun Feb 09, 2003 7:51 pm

Yup, I'm a whackbag ... to use the technical term for my dementia.Some of the finest papers in the United States and Canada are smaller dailies that regularly feature graceful writing, eye-grabbing designs and imaginative enterprise work. They may not have far-flung bureaus, win boatloads of Pulitzers, get stories leaked to them by congressional staffers or be opinion tastemakers in the eyes of self-appointed East Coast cognoscenti, but they do outstanding work every day ... in large part because they don't try to be everything to everybody.For instance, in the Pacific Northwest, the "heavyweights" are the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and The Seattle Times, as well as The Oregonian in Portland. But the papers I think actually do more with proportinately fewer resources are the Spokane Spokesman-Review (or rather, they did until their parent company killed them with layoffs and other cutbacks), McClatchy's News Tribune of Tacoma, The Herald of Everett (JonScribe's paper, owned by The Washington Post) and perhaps the best paper in the region (in my opinion) ... The Register-Guard of Eugene, Ore. What papers would you nominate?

tim · **Posted:** Sun Feb 09, 2003 8:04 pm

<blockquote>quote:<hr>Originally posted by Jim Thomsen:
Yup, I'm a whackbag ... to use the technical term for my dementia.Some of the finest papers in the United States and Canada are smaller dailies that regularly feature graceful writing, eye-grabbing designs and imaginative enterprise work. They may not have far-flung bureaus, win boatloads of Pulitzers, get stories leaked to them by congressional staffers or be opinion tastemakers in the eyes of self-appointed East Coast cognoscenti, but they do outstanding work every day ... in large part because they don't try to be everything to everybody.For instance, in the Pacific Northwest, the "heavyweights" are the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and The Seattle Times, as well as The Oregonian in Portland. But the papers I think actually do more with proportinately fewer resources are the Spokane Spokesman-Review (or rather, they did until their parent company killed them with layoffs and other cutbacks), McClatchy's News Tribune of Tacoma, The Herald of Everett (JonScribe's paper, owned by The Washington Post) and perhaps the best paper in the region (in my opinion) ... The Register-Guard of Eugene, Ore. What papers would you nominate?<hr></blockquote>Upon further review, I prefer to follow blanp's assumption about the original query.

ADKbrown · **Posted:** Mon Feb 10, 2003 1:23 pm

<blockquote>quote:<hr>Originally posted by blanp:
Am I the only one who assumed that this query was made tongue-in-cheek?<hr></blockquote>I believe it's called trolling.[ February 10, 2003: Message edited by: ADKbrown ]

JimDeLa · **Posted:** Thu Mar 06, 2003 1:20 pm

Why not read both? USA Today should only add a couple of minutes to your morning routine....

jpeppas · **Posted:** Sun Mar 09, 2003 3:16 pm

I subscribe to the Wall Street Journal.
I quit reading the Times after Czar Raines spiked the sports boys columns on Augusta National.
When I travel or need a sports fix I generally pick up the USA Today. USAT's sports section is the best in the country.
Online, I read my hometown papers and the Washington Post. I usually check out Romenesko every day and will click on whatever I think is interesting.

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