Newspaper

The Messenger-Inquirer is my local newspaper in Owensboro, KY; and my family gets the paper daily.    I have always liked our newspaper, and try and read a little of it every morning--I must say sports gets most of my attention.  Most of the writers for the paper are local, and the news is mostly local news.  While the country-wide news is covered, the strength of our paper is the coverage of local news.  The larger stories are often taken from bigger, more well-known papers and placed into the Messenger-Inquirer.

While the economic times have surely hurt subscriptions, and I'm sure other sources of getting news have hurt traditional newspapers; I believe the Messenger is still thriving.  In-print circulation is down, but the online transition has been paramount for the Messenger--as it has for many other newspapers--and increased readership.  I have no way of knowing the actual figures, but I know several members of my family--my sister and I especially--take advantage of the online paper since we no longer live in the area but still want to stay up to date with local events.

I heard several complaints about bias in the newspaper, how certain papers lean either to the left or right on most debates.  Some believe the Messenger is too conservative in its coverage of the news, and that it doesn't appeal to all readers in the area; and while I can understand this concern, I do not feel like it is a great problem--at least in the Messenger.  For the most part, the newspaper seems to offer a variety of viewpoints and cater to a variety of readers.