Read the Paper

The Sunday Oregonian included advice about financial planning, an evaluation of the reasons for a local web-design company's success, an analysis of various mutual funds, a "fact check" on a politician's recent claims about the economy, and a story about a wrongful termination lawsuit brought by an employee fired for burning the Quran.

When I logged onto Comcast to check my personal email, the headlines read: "Matador's Pants Split," "Best New Games," and "Heidi Klumm's too-tight dress."

This is a shameless plug for newsprint media. We have access to a wealth of information--and misinformation--on the web, but that is not why most of us use it. Internet news focuses on the sensational, the bizarre, and the merely interesting. Even serious news gets nothing more than a misleading headline limited to the space available after accounting for the advertisements. When real issues press upon our personal and business lives - such as our voting options, economic trends, and legislative changes - we need in-depth, investigative journalism, and intellectually challenging editorials (yes, even those with which we disagree).

And so I make this public plea: Read the Paper. Only by reading the paper can we get the information most useful to this ongoing experiment called Democracy, keep up with the trends that affect our businesses, and ensure continued employment (you knew there'd be a tie-in to employment, didn't you?) for the journalists who provide such a valuable service.