Newspapers

[Bridge hibs]

Following on from the X/Twitter thread on the Holy Ground forum I thought it would be interesting reading views of newspaper reading/habits etc.

In my house when growing up there were strict rules when it came to who reads the papers first from Dad to Mum, elder Brother and then passed down to me a few hours later and mostly folded or creased.

The news whether general or sport was not to be discussed until we had all finished with the papers and they could be used as kindling for the coal fire or as emergency toilet paper.

Monday to Saturday would be the Scotsman, Daily Record, Sunday would be the Sunday Mail and the Sunday Post with the Evening News Monday to Saturday.

Saturday was the big day for myself and my Bro as we wanted to check the latest sport, however Dad was ****ing annoying and would read the Scotsman first before going to the toilet where he would sit for an hour doing his crossword and it didnt end there, he also took the Daily Record to the toilet too just in case we had a quick skim.

We sat impatiently until he had finished the Scotsman so he could work his way through the Daily Record, I was champing at the bit like a dug in heat waiting on Bro being handed the paper from Dad like it was some ****ing badge of honour.

The Scotsman was an alternative but even chances of getting my mitts on that were very slim in the extreme, not that I could read all those academic like big worded scribblings anyway or even attempt the crossword, but more the case of me upsetting the creases on the paper that Dad would fold with precision.

My Dad passed away before the likes of Facebook, Bebo, Twitter ever existed but I always wondered if he would have been swayed by the media/tech side of things or would still hanker for the house rules, smudged ink on the hands, folding off the paper into a Millwall brick styled weapon so he could scud me over the head, an Iphone just wouldnt be the same.

[Pedantic_Hibee]

I boycotted all newspapers after Keith Jackson et al did their best to sell Scott Brown and Kevin Thomson. Haven’t bought one since and I never will.

I skim read BBC News and BBC Sport once or twice a day but that’s it for me, and I get my Hibs news from here and the Hibs Observer.

[Bridge hibs]

I boycotted all newspapers after Keith Jackson et al did their best to sell Scott Brown and Kevin Thomson. Haven’t bought one since and I never will.

I skim read BBC News and BBC Sport once or twice a day but that’s it for me, and I get my Hibs news from here and the Hibs Observer.When I got older I bought the Pink News religiously, in fact following on from the “house rules” both myself and Brother would buy a Pink news each because we didnt want to share.

I bought the EEN for years but eventually ditched it and dont bother now, in fact I bought every newspaper I could after our Scottish cup win and never bought a paper since.

[Pretty Boy]

The Evening News was almost sacrosanct in my grandparents house when I was growing up. My grandad brought the old city final in from work and it was read cover to cover. I think my grandad only read it to moan about John Gibson, he never missed his column despite seeming to despise him😅 In fairness the News was a good paper way back when and regularly beat the nationals to some big stories. A shame what has happened to it, a similar story with a lot of local press. Locally I quite like the Edinburgh Reporter these days; it's a way ahead of the EEN and Edinburgh Live imo.

My parents still get the Sunday Post at the weekend. I always thought it was just a bit old fashioned but in recent times it really seems to have gone down that grumpy, reactionary, everything new is rubbish and we'd be better if they brought back national service and closed the borders route. I still like the Broons though.

I don't buy a paper or even regularly visit a specific website now. I liked the Sunday Herald when it first came on the scene, thought it was something different for a Sunday paper. I used to buy the Guardian but I just find it a bit nauseating now. A chattering class publication that seems to talk about working class people as though they are some weird sub species and talks at rather than to them. It's a shadow of it's former self. Marina Hyde is still brilliantly cutting and acerbic though and I do take the time to read her columns.

I usually check the BBC website in the morning and again at night to see if anything major has happened, I also like their long reads stories which showcase some exceptional investigative journalism. I enjoy both the News and Unreported World on Channel 4 and like Panorama and Dispatches as well.

[Bridge hibs]

I always read the paper from the back pages first, sport before anything. If it was the EEN then it was back pages then births, deaths and marriages, sad I know.

[HarpOnHibee]

Have never bought a single newspaper in my life. I do however scoff at the blatant attempts at propaganda on the front pages whenever I take a glance at them in the shops. People don't buy them for news. They buy them to have their own biases re-confirmed.

[Bridge hibs]

Have never bought a single newspaper in my life. I do however scoff at the blatant attempts at propaganda on the front pages whenever I take a glance at them in the shops. People don't buy them for news. They buy them to have their own biases re-confirmed.

Fair opinion mate, I was brought up in the days of very little or no telly so daily newspapers were always centre stage, surprisingly though considering the quietness of our household newspapers were never a focal point for discussion.

For example I spent a lot of my childhood at my Nana and Grandads and when my Granda opened his “broadsheet” there was to be a hushed silence as he read his paper, probably every single word whilst my Nana knitted away.

After he finished his paper he put it in his pile ready for his “origami” style paper folding into something that resembled donuts which he placed on the fire and lit prior to tonging lumps of coal from the scuttle.

In my own house my Dad would never engage in conversation about the headlines or content of his paper, most likely keeping that for his pub chat.

[Moulin Yarns]

Fair opinion mate, I was brought up in the days of very little or no telly so daily newspapers were always centre stage, surprisingly though considering the quietness of our household newspapers were never a focal point for discussion.

For example I spent a lot of my childhood at my Nana and Grandads and when my Granda opened his “broadsheet” there was to be a hushed silence as he read his paper, probably every single word whilst my Nana knitted away.

After he finished his paper he put it in his pile ready for his “origami” style paper folding into something that resembled donuts which he placed on the fire and lit prior to tonging lumps of coal from the scuttle.

In my own house my Dad would never engage in conversation about the headlines or content of his paper, most likely keeping that for his pub chat.

Third paragraph, that is the main reason for buying papers. We get the Sunday national and observer and that's enough for a weeks worth of fire lighting. I'm annoyed if I have to resort to firelighters!

[pollution]

Talking about papers, I detest deliberately inaccurate headlines from respected sources, in this case the BBC Scotland site.

' Police warn against road travel during storm Bert '..... for much of Scotland.

Only half way through the article does it say the warning is for north of the Central Belt and excludes sea level areas.

Cheap clickbate wolf-crying tat.

Cheerio

[Bridge hibs]

Third paragraph, that is the main reason for buying papers. We get the Sunday national and observer and that's enough for a weeks worth of fire lighting. I'm annoyed if I have to resort to firelighters!By the way there was a knack to that, my Granda used to try and teach us the art of making those donuty shaped things but to no avail, he was ****ing good and I dont think he used a fire lighter in his life, although perversely I actually loved the smell of fire lighters 🫣

[hibsbollah]

Following on from the X/Twitter thread on the Holy Ground forum I thought it would be interesting reading views of newspaper reading/habits etc.

In my house when growing up there were strict rules when it came to who reads the papers first from Dad to Mum, elder Brother and then passed down to me a few hours later and mostly folded or creased.

The news whether general or sport was not to be discussed until we had all finished with the papers and they could be used as kindling for the coal fire or as emergency toilet paper.

Monday to Saturday would be the Scotsman, Daily Record, Sunday would be the Sunday Mail and the Sunday Post with the Evening News Monday to Saturday.

Saturday was the big day for myself and my Bro as we wanted to check the latest sport, however Dad was ****ing annoying and would read the Scotsman first before going to the toilet where he would sit for an hour doing his crossword and it didnt end there, he also took the Daily Record to the toilet too just in case we had a quick skim.

We sat impatiently until he had finished the Scotsman so he could work his way through the Daily Record, I was champing at the bit like a dug in heat waiting on Bro being handed the paper from Dad like it was some ****ing badge of honour.

The Scotsman was an alternative but even chances of getting my mitts on that were very slim in the extreme, not that I could read all those academic like big worded scribblings anyway or even attempt the crossword, but more the case of me upsetting the creases on the paper that Dad would fold with precision.

My Dad passed away before the likes of Facebook, Bebo, Twitter ever existed but I always wondered if he would have been swayed by the media/tech side of things or would still hanker for the house rules, smudged ink on the hands, folding off the paper into a Millwall brick styled weapon so he could scud me over the head, an Iphone just wouldnt be the same.


I think that describes very well the relationship that families used to have with newspapers. You had these social codes you had to obey; who got it first, etc. And in our house, first dibs of the crossword was a big deal.

My grandad was the definition of working class 'respectable'. He got the Scotsman in the days when it was a genuine 'quality' broadsheet, but I think a lot of this was posturing. He got the Sunday Post on the weekend and that was the paper he enjoyed reading. At his eulogy my dad said 'The Scotsman was his paper', probably in a snobbish attempt to make him seem more middle class than he actually was, which annoyed me at the time! He also liked the fact it was an Edinburgh paper; the Herald was for the West coasters.

I used to buy and read the Guardian, but now i'm getting my news from alternative sources, because like all mainstream newspapers, I know the Guardian has an editorial policy they will never deviate from, even when that's at the expense of reporting the truth. Navigating online content is a minefield, and identifying disinformation will continue to get harder and harder as technology 'improves'. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that journalistic standards are worse now than 30 years ago in the mainstream media. There's more intelligent comment on politics in blogs and podcasts and on Novara media and similar, and the same pattern with sports (compare some of our football podcasts with the rubbish BBC Scotland serves up), science and the arts.

[Bridge hibs]

I think that describes very well the relationship that families used to have with newspapers. You had these social codes you had to obey; who got it first, etc. And in our house, first dibs of the crossword was a big deal.

My grandad was the definition of working class 'respectable'. He got the Scotsman in the days when it was a genuine 'quality' broadsheet, but I think a lot of this was posturing. He got the Sunday Post on the weekend and that was the paper he enjoyed reading. At his eulogy my dad said 'The Scotsman was his paper', probably in a snobbish attempt to make him seem more middle class than he actually was, which annoyed me at the time! He also liked the fact it was an Edinburgh paper; the Herald was for the West coasters.

I used to buy and read the Guardian, but now i'm getting my news from alternative sources, because like all mainstream newspapers, I know the Guardian has an editorial policy they will never deviate from, even when that's at the expense of reporting the truth. Navigating online content is a minefield, and identifying disinformation will continue to get harder and harder as technology 'improves'. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that journalistic standards are worse now than 30 years ago in the mainstream media. There's more intelligent comment on politics in blogs and podcasts and on Novara media and similar, and the same pattern with sports (compare some of our football podcasts with the rubbish BBC Scotland serves up), science and the arts.Yeah I can relate to a lot of that and particularly with regards the more “intellectual” broad sheet” My Dad was very intellectual and a lot of that was due to less schooling and more world travel. He was a total **** most of the time during my childhood and into adulthood but he was a well educated with “life skills and knowledge” ****.

I suppose he read different papers for a geographical or political look on what was going on with regards news, Daily Record for Scotland, EEN for Edinburgh and the Borders, the Scotsman for his geo political info and the Sunday Sport for the boobies.

Only kidding about the Sunday Sport, my Brother bought that and hid it under his mattress beside his sock.

Latterly though I actually found myself drawn towards the Scotsman but mostly to attempt the crossword, not because I thought I was a smart arse but it was a good, in my Dads words a “thinking mans” crossword and if you can get into the head of the compilers way of thinking then you could work out the clues.

Nope 🤭

[Mon Dieu4]

I honestly couldn't tell you the last time I read little alone bought a news paper, I used to love the Pink on Saturdays, it's only been recently that I've realised how amazing of an achievement it must have been to get that printed and out to the News Agents as quickly as they did, some times the match reports from Clubs aren't up as quickly as I would have had the Pink

[hibsbollah]

…and also, since the Guardian had a bit of a slagging earlier, here’s an example of great sports journalism from Johnathan Liew. If politics intrudes a bit, sad but inevitable.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2024/nov/22/sport-may-be-a-blunt-tool-of-social-change-but-its-time-to-take-action-against-israel

[silverhibee]

Sunday Mail News of the World & Sunday Post on a Sunday morning and rolls from the Crichton’s who went round Muirhouse with a barrow.

I’m getting old :greengrin not bought a paper in years now and probably won’t ever again.

[Bridge hibs]

Sunday Mail News of the World & Sunday Post on a Sunday morning and rolls from the Crichton’s who went round Muirhouse with a barrow.

I’m getting old :greengrin not bought a paper in years now and probably won’t ever again.The thing I suppose that was the final nail in the coffin was the EEN which went from relatively local “evening” news where you would have to visit the local shops around tea time to secure your paper.

Then of course the rise of social media and the impending implosion of the EEN as I knew it. I started buying my EEN with my morning rolls and you could literally see its demise in front of you.

It went from waiting on the EEN delivery van which was jam packed to the John Menzies van which was near empty, take from that the heavy loss of jobs in the printing industry as well as the traditional paper round as we knew it back then with our heavy bags that we trudged around with.

Another very annoying issue for me was the addition of adverts used to fill their pages where it came to the point it felt like they outnumbered the actual news worthy of reading.

Funnily enough with regards adverts, my Brother was a roofer and many years back was working on a roof of a very large house in the Marchmont area when he uncovered a couple of newspapers stuffed between the trusses, possibly wedged in to minimise the truss creaks when it got windy.

Im not exactly sure of the dates of these broadsheets but Im sure late 30s to very early 40s and they were in pristine condition. I have to dig them out at some point as I have them in a cupboard now. Im sure they are the Observer, London Times and another Daily Mail or something similar. With regards adverts that was one of the notable things about these papers, it wasnt just the EEN in modern times, these broadsheets were crammed with adverts too surprisingly.

Want to buy a 3 piece suit, jacket, waist coat and trousers for £5 or a nice newly built 4 bedroomed bungalow in the salubrious Bingham Road area for £150 😵*💫

[Hibrandenburg]

I'm fortunate in that at work we have someone whose job it is to summarise all the days UK and German press and media stories and send them out via email in the form of a newsletter which quotes the sources. It's normally sent out about 08:30 in the morning so it's my first read after I've fired up my laptop and if anything draws my attention I can go check out the original stories via the online subscriptions from my employer. It's a great start to the day, open the office door, switch on my computer, get myself a freshly brewed filter coffee and then spend the first half an hour catching up on events.

It's quite a contrast to when I was a kid and the only newspaper I'd see was the occasional Sunday post at the weekend.

[hibsbollah]

I'm fortunate in that at work we have someone whose job it is to summarise all the days UK and German press and media stories and send them out via email in the form of a newsletter which quotes the sources. It's normally sent out about 08:30 in the morning so it's my first read after I've fired up my laptop and if anything draws my attention I can go check out the original stories via the online subscriptions from my employer. It's a great start to the day, open the office door, switch on my computer, get myself a freshly brewed filter coffee and then spend the first half an hour catching up on events.

It's quite a contrast to when I was a kid and the only newspaper I'd see was the occasional Sunday post at the weekend.

That's interesting, that was a job of mine back in the day too. The stories would have to focus on stuff of direct interest to the company I worked for but it was a creative way of staying up to date with what was happening around the world. The news was definitely less depressing in the late 90s than it is now.

[Hibrandenburg]

That's interesting, that was a job of mine back in the day too. The stories would have to focus on stuff of direct interest to the company I worked for but it was a creative way of staying up to date with what was happening around the world. The news was definitely less depressing in the late 90s than it is now.

Funnily enough the guy who does that job for us is from Edinburgh too. Grew up in a rugby/Yam family but supports Partick Thistle and is a season ticket holder with Hertha Berlin, all that getting up at 04:00 must have melted his head.

Must have been an interesting job HB, I guess in that line of work you digest much more information than you regurgitate in the reports you have to produce, I can imagine that would be a dream job for many, why did you quit?

[hibsbollah]

Funnily enough the guy who does that job for us is from Edinburgh too. Grew up in a rugby/Yam family but supports Partick Thistle and is a season ticket holder with Hertha Berlin, all that getting up at 04:00 must have melted his head.

Must have been an interesting job HB, I guess in that line of work you digest much more information than you regurgitate in the reports you have to produce, I can imagine that would be a dream job for many, why did you quit?

I was working in Seoul, believe it or not. The company was a very large multinational making everything from cars to military equipment. At the time I was one of the few English speakers there so I had a fair bit of autonomy to write pretty much what I wanted. Anything that painted our company in a positive light got boosted to the top of the page, so it was a good early grounding in the power of propaganda:greengrin In the late 90s the Asian financial crisis threw a spanner in everyone's works and it seemed a good idea to cut my losses and move back to the UK.

Good times though, great place to live.

[Keith_M]

Not sure if I should admit this, as it's a bit embarrasing, but I religiously buy the Daily Record on Saturdays for Tam Cowan's article.


I know, I know, I should be ashamed of myself, but we all have our own sins.

:embarrass

[JimBHibees]

Have never bought a single newspaper in my life. I do however scoff at the blatant attempts at propaganda on the front pages whenever I take a glance at them in the shops. People don't buy them for news. They buy them to have their own biases re-confirmed.

Pretty much sums it up. Depressing how popular the Daily Mail appears to be.

When growing up Evening news every day Sundays folks got Sunday post and Sunday Mail.

Went through a phase of getting Scotland on Sunday mainly for sport such as Graham Spiers. Then regularly bought Sunday herald for a while

[McD]

Pretty much sums it up. Depressing how popular the Daily Mail appears to be.

When growing up Evening news every day Sundays folks got Sunday post and Sunday Mail.

Went through a phase of getting Scotland on Sunday mainly for sport such as Graham Spiers. Then regularly bought Sunday herald for a while


Spiers was always a decent read, even if you disagreed with his point. Also enjoyed reading Gerry McNee back in the day

[heretoday]

We get the i at weekends. Good paper with addictive crosswords. Still a load of travel, tv and lifestyle filler in it though.

[Hibrandenburg]

I was working in Seoul, believe it or not. The company was a very large multinational making everything from cars to military equipment. At the time I was one of the few English speakers there so I had a fair bit of autonomy to write pretty much what I wanted. Anything that painted our company in a positive light got boosted to the top of the page, so it was a good early grounding in the power of propaganda:greengrin In the late 90s the Asian financial crisis threw a spanner in everyone's works and it seemed a good idea to cut my losses and move back to the UK.

Good times though, great place to live.

I'm not drawn to Asia for some reason but I would have loved to have worked there to give it a chance to persuade me otherwise. Now and then my employer offers secondments in far flung locations, but I'm getting a bit too old for that kind of thing and have too many responsibilities at home to volunteer.

My wife deals with Korea on a daily basis and has taken a few courses on Korean culture, sounds really interesting and a bit of a minefield in some areas, especially around what is perceived to be good or bad manners compared to our culture.

[hibsbollah]

I'm not drawn to Asia for some reason but I would have loved to have worked there to give it a chance to persuade me otherwise. Now and then my employer offers secondments in far flung locations, but I'm getting a bit too old for that kind of thing and have too many responsibilities at home to volunteer.

My wife deals with Korea on a daily basis and has taken a few courses on Korean culture, sounds really interesting and a bit of a minefield in some areas, especially around what is perceived to be good or bad manners compared to our culture.

Oh yeah. She’s spot on. As a foreigner you will be cut a break if you get things wrong in terms of conventions and formality, but theres so much to learn it can be overwhelming tostart with. Some of it is formalities about how to pour drinks or deferring to older colleagues, but the most obvious frustration for foreigners is if youre a contractor you’re expected to do exactly what the client wants; changing deadlines at the last minute, increasing workload, whatever. The whole culture is about deference to authority and seniority.