Free Daily Newspaper

The Dude · March-14-10, 12:55 AM

Why doesn't either the News or Free Press put out a free, condensed, tabloid paper on a Monday-Friday setup? In Chicago, the Chicago Tribune has "The Red Eye:. In Tampa Bay, the St. Petersburg Times has "tbt** tampa bay times". Metro Times doesn't count because it is not a newspaper, in Tampa the= of the Metro Times is Creative Loafing.

http://www.tampabaytimes.fl.usrv06.n....com/index.php

http://www.tbt.com

**Meddle** · March-14-10, 01:07 AM

You'll be luck if either the Freep or the News continue to put out a printed paper at all. Some across the country have gone to a web only edition.

**mcsdetroitfriend** · March-14-10, 01:15 AM

Can't afford

**pffft** · March-14-10, 09:18 AM

Why doesn't Starbucks give me a free half cup of coffee?

And while I'm at it, have Kroger throw in a few free groceries.

**Huggybear** · March-14-10, 09:37 AM

You can get a free weekend paper by hitting the people standing in intersections [[probably illegally) hawking them and then picking one up off the top of the pile.

Facetiousness aside, who gave these jokers permission to hold up traffic at intersections all over dowtown?

**texorama** · March-14-10, 10:18 AM

I've often wondered why the News-Free Press never tried this. They work well in cities with large, crowded arterials where people sit for two or three minutes at a stretch at traffic lights, and that certainly describes metro Detroit. Seems to me that the best way for the newspapers to combat the Internet would have been to use a medium that matched the Internet on its own terms [[free, instant) while keeping the virtues of the print paper [[theoretically more in-depth treatment of stories). Advertisers in these other cities pay for deals with the tabloids because they get their ads directly into the hands of forty or fifty thousand people who are already on the move. But I suppose it's too late now.

**Bobl** · March-14-10, 10:40 AM

quote: "... But I suppose it's too late now..."

Probably true. Soon, our "news" will be complied by minimum wage international workers, or automated web crawlers, who will provide short items, gleaned from the web. "All the news that fits."

**dtowncitylover** · March-14-10, 11:04 AM

The Red Eye in Chicago caters to the youth and the yuppie, neither of which Detroit really has to cater to.

**daddeeo** · March-14-10, 01:27 PM

The paper is pretty damn small right now. Most days it is about as big as the Saturday paper used to be.

**Jimaz** · March-14-10, 01:49 PM

I get a free Detroit News everyday at Big Boy.

**Thruster315** · March-14-10, 02:57 PM

Today's paper? There isn't enough to paper train a puppy on. I saw copies of the Freep & the News at the local 7-11 and couldn't believe how wafer thin it is now. I used to deliver the News when I was young and the circulars that we'd have to insert on Sundays were thicker than this. Newspapers have truly changed and I'm not so sure if it's for the better.

The Dude · March-14-10, 03:19 PM

Remember, I am not talking about giving away the full edition of the Freep or News, just a tabloid condensed version. That's what the tbt is, the stories and columns are from the St. Petersburg Times. Different comics, though.

Now, let's say the Free Press goes ahead and puts out a tabloid, M-F free edition, you may think:

The News would raise a stink Why?

They can't afford it. The Free Press is owned by Gannet, I am sure that is not too big a problem.

**EMG** · March-14-10, 03:19 PM

Originally Posted by pffft

Why doesn't Starbucks give me a free half cup of coffee?

And while I'm at it, have Kroger throw in a few free groceries.

Don't you understand, silly - it's a Typical Detroit Liberal thing. "Expect everything for free because, after all and gee whiz, those who work for a living have more money so they owe it to us just for gracing God's green Earth with our presence."

**pffft** · March-14-10, 03:43 PM

The Dude,
The News and Freep are conjoined by a JOA that means, whatever one does business-wise, the other does as well.

So if one did it, rest assured, the other would as well.

The Dude · March-14-10, 03:49 PM

Didn't that JOA end when they stopped joint editions on weekends and holidays and dropped the Sunday News?

**pffft** · March-14-10, 03:57 PM

Dude,
No, there was a new JOA inked. It's now the second JOA.
Didn't you ever notice that the papers have the same ads?

Both gave up Monday-Wednesday delivery at the same time.

**EMG** · March-14-10, 04:00 PM

Originally Posted by The Dude

Didn't that JOA end when they stopped joint editions on weekends and holidays and dropped the Sunday News?

If Wikipedia is to be trusted, it looks like the JOA is still in effect:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detroit...ting_agreement

**pffft** · March-14-10, 04:02 PM

It's a newly-inked JOA, different from the first one.

**Meddle** · March-14-10, 04:35 PM

Originally Posted by Thruster315

Today's paper? There isn't enough to paper train a puppy on. I saw copies of the Freep & the News at the local 7-11 and couldn't believe how wafer thin it is now. I used to deliver the News when I was young and the circulars that we'd have to insert on Sundays were thicker than this. Newspapers have truly changed and I'm not so sure if it's for the better.

Originally Posted by daddeeo

The paper is pretty damn small right now. Most days it is about as big as the Saturday paper used to be.

I remember some Sunday papers being about an inch thick. As a carrier, you couldn't do your whole route in one trip around the holidays, you had to go back and reload. As a reader, it would take you half the day just to read through the inserts before you ever started on the paper itself.

**EMG** · March-14-10, 04:45 PM

It's a cycle. Less readership, less ad sales, less paper printed, and so it continues.

In place of "news" we now have Editorial Burger King - you can just go to the Internet and "have it your way." Colman McCarthy? Ann Coulter? Take your pick!!!! No need to listen to / put up with / consider the "nutcases" on the other side!

[[Any guesses as to why the nation is more and more sharply divided by the day....)

**Hermod** · March-14-10, 06:55 PM

Originally Posted by Meddle

I remember some Sunday papers being about an inch thick. As a carrier, you couldn't do your whole route in one trip around the holidays, you had to go back and reload. As a reader, it would take you half the day just to read through the inserts before you ever started on the paper itself.

Most Sunday papers in the US came in two sections. The section with the ads, funnies, and features was printed during the week spread out with the daily papers. The other section with the basic paper was printed Saturday night so that the news would be current. When my kids were carrying the Richmond Times-Dispatch, they would get two stacks of papers on Sunday morning, one stack for each part. They had to assemble the two parts before delivery.

When I was a kid in Michigan, the News would give the carriers the insert section on Saturday night. Most carriers would not wait to get the Sunday morning section, but would deliver the inserts on Saturday night because the large Sunday paper would require them to make two bicycle trips on Sunday morning if they delivered the full paper.

When I lived in northern Virginia [[1985-1994) , the Sunday Washington Post was HUGE. I wonder how much smaller it has become.

**EMG** · March-14-10, 07:08 PM

Originally Posted by Hermod

When I was a kid in Michigan, the News would give the carriers the insert section on Saturday night. Most carriers would not wait to get the Sunday morning section, but would deliver the inserts on Saturday night because the large Sunday paper would require them to make two bicycle trips on Sunday morning if they delivered the full paper.

Now it comes back to me - I seem to remember something about the insert section. [[Of course when you're a kid, the only "insert" you give a rat's patoot about is the comics, so I'm hereafter going to refer to it as the comics). I remember the comics coming with the Sunday paper at the newsstands, but coming [[along with the inserts) on Saturday for home-delivered papers. I always wondered why - but this bit about the news carriers may just explain it.