past the post

I am not a sophisticated reader or news consumer, but I did become an adult at a time when people advised subscribing to the local paper as a way to settle into a new city. I had a Sunday NY Times subscription when I was in grad school, and I bought a Sunday Washington Post subscription once I had a steady income here. I kept that subscription for decades, even as the Sunday edition shrank to almost nothing. I didn't go digital-only until the Post stopped including Parade magazine a few years ago.

I never read the OpEd section of any paper, so the immediate changes after Bezos bought the Post didn't bother me that much. The parts that justified the subscription were the Food section and a couple of columnists in the Business section (Michelle Singletary (personal finance), Karla Miller (workplace advice), Geoffrey Fowler (personal tech), and Andrew Van Dam (Department of Data)). In December, I got an email that the cost of a digital subscription was going up by almost 50%. That convinced me it was time to pull the plug.

I already subscribe to The 51st State (a local news outlet), Defector (mostly sports), Discourse (mostly politics), and Flaming Hydra (everything from journalism to poetry). Note that this doesn't mean that I actually read all (or any) of their content. Nevertheless, I'd like to send my former Post subscription money somewhere. Wired, Pro Publica, Associated Press, and Texas Observer are at the top of the list, but I haven't made up my mind.