Brian Hieggelke

I am a lifelong newspaper junkie. Growing up, my dad always read the newspaper, and when his dad was around he read the newspaper. I understood implicitly that grownup men read newspapers.

After school, I went to work for Goldman Sachs, where it was drilled into the trainees that knowledge was a fundamental component of success. I indulged, almost excessively. In my twenties, I subscribed to the daily editions of the Chicago Tribune, The Chicago Sun-Times, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. And, because I "covered" Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa for my sales job, I subscribed to both Milwaukee dailies, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune and the Des Moines Register. I think I took down a tree a day.

When I left Goldman, I symbolically quit my WSJ subscription, but picked it up again a few years later. Over time, my addiction to newspapers became as much a burden as a pleasure. Stacks would pile up, and time would disappear as I plowed dutifully through every edition. When the Sun-Times couldn't deliver consistently to my Loop apartment, I dropped it. I dropped the New York Times to save time, thinking the Journal covered the essential financial news. With the advent of the Internet, and the incursion of email, I started losing more time. Eventually I dropped the Journal, leaving only the Tribune. Ironically, the Trib is my least favorite of the four, and for years I subscribed to it over the Sun-Times only because its delivery service was virtually flawless--and, frankly, because it had the good comics.

Newspaper reading is a ritual for me. I wake up, make coffee, get the paper and hit my chair. In the early years, I'd get agitated if someone messed with my paper, out of fear that I might miss a section, and that long-discarded behavior lives on in reputation with my family. I read the paper in a repetitive manner on most days--first Sports, of which I read little but scan for scores and major news, then Business, Chicagoland, Tempo and the main section. I discard Classifieds, Automotive and Real Estate, along with ad circulars, without even opening them. Mostly I scan; newspaper reading has become more chore than pleasure. I am personally embarrassed that the new Personals page of celebrity gossip--in the main news section--is one of the sections of the Tribune I read faithfully, but guilty pleasure it remains.

Newspapers are like throwbacks to another time, with "family-friendly" profanity-free copy, aw-shucks columns and Blondie cartoons. Reading the newspaper is like limiting your television watching to a steady stream of "Leave it to Beaver" reruns.

I've been an early adopter of the Internet, and read dozens if not hundreds of stories a month online. But I've done so in conjunction with my daily print newspaper habit. Over the last year, I've grown more pessimistic about the future of the print newspaper, a notion supported by the growing consensus of countless pundits considering the crashing earnings and circulation figures flowing out of the once-mighty emperors of ink. For me, the proliferation of the wireless Internet has been the lynchpin, as I've become addicted to perpetual connectivity and see my lifestyle changing to reflect it. And I'm from the newspaper generation; those behind me lack any allegiance to print.

I decided to go cold turkey for a month and give up print newspaper subscriptions altogether. To try and get most of my daily news fix from the web, and see what happened. My last day would be Sunday, February 12, the biggest paper of the week, and the one that I once cherished the most.

Monday, February 13
The first day that my subscription has been stopped and--oops, they brought it anyway. I guess we'll start tomorrow.

Tuesday, February 14
Although I look forward to a more varied news diet, and fully expect to dramatically vary my menu as time progresses, I decide to start with the familiar and head to Chicagotribune.com. After reading one of the top news stories about Dick Cheney's wayward shotgun, I click on what looks like big news on Lollapalooza and get sent to a login/registration page. I've already registered but, of course, can't remember which password I used, so I have to get it emailed, then login, then back to the home page to get to the story again.

I skim and scroll a lot, replacing the similar process of skimming and scanning that I use with my newspaper. Many stories are just headlines, and in most cases, I don't want to invest the time to click and see if they are interesting. This is especially true of columnists since I don't have any particular favorites at the Tribune. In print, I'd scan all the stories and perhaps read something I would not have expected to, based on the headline and the lead paragraph.

Overall, I'm somewhat disoriented, despite the familiarity. I don't really look at sports, and don't know where the celeb gossip that I read in print, the "Personals" page, is. I contemplate setting up RSS but decide to save that journey for a later date.

One thing I observe today is that while the news is theoretically as fresh as it can be, "fresh" news seems to be mixed in with older stories, especially on the section pages. I see headlines to stories I read in print Monday, or even Sunday. With print, you might not have the latest news, but you have a built-in sense for how fresh it is, and make mental adjustments. With the web, you rely on posting times, which you usually have to click on a story to see, or you live with confusion. For example, Tom Skilling's weather forecast today projects a high of 42 and a low of 32, but when you scroll down the page, the seven-day forecast shows a high for today of 52 and a low of 37. Which is the most current forecast? Is one just a keypunch error?

Another observation: with print, you have a somewhat defined beginning and end, which contains the time you spend with the news. With the web, there is no such finiteness, allowing you to spend as much or as little time as you want. I fear that this will end up costing me more time, not less.

Over to Suntimes.com. It seems like a better organized site: like a tabloid, more linear in its organization, allowing for more methodical scanning of stories. It offers email editions, of which I sign up for several. And quick access to columnists where, unlike the Tribune, I do have favorites: Feder and DeRogatis.

It's getting late, and I haven't checked nytimes.com yet. Right away, a jaw-dropping (and stomach-turning) headline I didn't see in the locals: "U.S. and Israelis Are Said to Talk of Hamas Ouster"

That's enough for today.

Wednesday, February 15
Like unpacking boxes after a move, I started settling in today. NY Times email hit my inbox first, so I started there, and then to the Sun-Times where I read Feder's piece about the firing of Bruce Wolf, then remembered that Bill Zwecker could provide my celeb news fix. A quick run through the Trib, coverage of NY Fashion Week at the LA Times and a few minutes checking out the local blogs, Chicagoist and Gapers Block. Most importantly, I set up links to my daily comics reads. Everything still feels unsettled, like a new home, but the reasons for the move are becoming clearer. My challenge will not be to get enough news, but rather to control my appetite faced with the abundance of having every news source in the world at my fingertips at all times.

(2006-02-14)

Also by Brian Hieggelke

Requiem for a Dream
Marshall Field arrived in Chicago from New England and got a job in the retail business in 1856. 150 years later, in 2006, he'll leave Chicago for good
(2005-12-06)

Hot Dish
Within an unusually narrow window these last few weeks, three dukes of Chicago's dining opened new establishments. Two are led by acclaimed chefs--Shawn McClain (Spring, Green Zebra) with Custom House and Michael Taus (Zealous) with Saltaus--and one by restaurateur Terry Alexander (MOD, Mia Francesca) with del Toro. It's enough to set off a foodie frenzy, if the new places live up to the reputations of their principals
(2005-11-29)

Costume conundrums
Saturday night before Halloween, 8:30pm: A young woman waits alone at the southbound bus stop at Clark and Armitage, dressed up--perhaps for church, a wedding reception or a date--in a long coat, with fishnet stockings and patent-leather pumps
(2005-11-01)

Fan fare for the Common Man
Compared to the guy with his face neatly painted--half black, half white--at Shinnick's or the woman with the creepy ventriloquist's dummy taking up a precious seat at Schaller's Pump, the World Series crowd at First Base at 32nd and Normal is fairly nondescript by tonight's standards
(2005-10-25)

Ticket-Miser
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Car Free
(2005-07-21)

Tip of the Week
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Tip of the Week
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Osteria via Stato
(2005-03-01)

Made in China
(2005-01-25)

Tip of the Week
(2005-01-11)

Tip of the Week
(2005-01-11)

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