Sunday, May 17, 2009

If Larry Goes, I Go

When I picked up my copy of The Sun at the end of the driveway this morning I was struck by how small it had become. This didn’t happen overnight of course, The Sun has been progressively shrinking for at least a year now. Yet somehow this morning, lying there next to the Sunday editions of The Washington Post and New York Times, The Sun looks downright pathetic.

Two days ago I paid my bill for the next eight weeks of home delivery of Baltimore’s only daily newspaper. It was $38.75. For the first time since I became a subscriber, I seriously considered cancelling. It doesn’t seem like a good value proposition anymore.

Truth is I’ve felt this way the past couple of times I paid this bill. I’ve hung in there because while I believe that it is important to support the daily paper, we all have a breaking point. I’ve decided mine is Larry, as in Larry Carson, the veteran reporter covering Howard County. I’ve completely given up my expectation of any meaningful national news from The Sun, and forget about their business coverage. It is really just their Howard County coverage that keeps me hanging on and that has now boiled down to Larry Carson, the last Mohican.

I know I’ve tossed a barb or two his way in this blog. That’s mostly because he covers our little piece of the Baltimore Washington corridor so well. My digs have all been for minor infractions, mere technicalities if you will.

So I’ve decided to make Larry Carson my own personal line in the sand for continuing to be a subscriber of The Sun.

If he goes, I go.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Now it's official. People who protect personal power at the expense of fundamental rights will value one another above even politics.

Thanks for the candor.

Anonymous said...

I agree with Wordbones. Larry is the one light left (along w/John-John Williams) in HC Coverage. Journalists. An often maligned group -- but without them who will investigate, look into issues? Uncover corruption?

Tom said...

When Larry told me he was working out of his house a couple of months ago when the Howard County bureau was closed I asked him how long before he starts a blog.
I like many of my neighbors have cut back the BaltSun to weekends only (F-S-S). And if you subscribe to google news (free) and include your zip code in the local news you'll get to see everything Larry writes.

Yes, there is a shift in the news industry and us older newspaper readers are going to have to learn to live in this new world order. You of all people should know this first hand.

Anonymous said...

Just subscribe to the HC Times and they will deliver the Sun on weekends for free. They will do anything to get the subscriber numbers up. They started a couple years ago with Sundays thrown in, now Saturday too.

Ed Ely said...

We quit the Sun a couple of years ago, and then decided to just get it on Sunday-really only for coverage of the Orioles and Ravens, and some local Howard County news. Now we get it on Weds., Thurs., Fri. and Saturday as well. They just deliver it. And, yes, we still only pay for Sundays. Editorially, the Sun, once one of the best papers in the US, is a rag.
We do subscribe to the Post daily.

CJB said...

I also am hanging on more for misplaced nostalgia than sound economics.

It has become a guessing game each morning waiting to see how small the paper - the neighbors dog doesn't even bother to chew on it in the morning - he switched to pizza flyers for more bulk.