I actually did write this out in longhand with my Cross pen circa 1985 (75 percent off when I bought it), which I carried and wrote with through Afghanistan, Iraq, and Kuwait. My article was barely legible to me, and if I scanned it, it’s too small to post, so I had to resort to the word processor.
When I was young, most cities had one or more newspapers. Toledo was ahead of its time, with two newspapers owned by the same company and printed on the same printing presses–much like many cities see today. The owner supposedly said that the biggest news was the Dempsey-Tunney boxing match of 1919 and if he had his way, it would stay the biggest news.
In any case, most newspapers published one major edition each day. Unlike in the movies, the editor screaming “Stop the presses!” was rare, as was newsboys in ill-fitting clothes and funny caps yelling, “Extra! Extra! Read all about it!.” There may have been an extra edition when President Kennedy was assassinated, but since that was early afternoon, it’s unlikely. The evening news was a half-hour (including commercials), as was the 11:00 PM news.
Today, we are bombarded 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year on multiple channels, news feeds, social media, etc., much of which is intended to draw you to click-bait, sell you hemorrhoid medicine, or miracle cures for erectile dysfunction. It’s all BREAKING NEWS that’s JUST IN.
I think the old style was better, thank you–one newspaper and 30 minute news programs.
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