Sound Off
Sound Off: What has happened to the world news in our newspaper? There is so much news in the world every day that we should at least have a page each day of world news.
The Journal-World posts several world and national news and sports stories from The Associated Press and other news services throughout the day on LJWorld.com. In the print edition, space limitations determine how much world and national news from the Associated Press and other news syndicates is published. “As the No. 1 source of news in Lawrence and Douglas County, our priority is and remains covering local stories,” said Dennis Anderson, managing editor.
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Comments
LJWorld.com doesn’t necessarily condone the comments here, nor does it review every post. Read our full policy. Also, read about banned accounts and harassing comments.
kingfm981 (anonymous) says…
The LJWorld continues to struggle financially. Online they cannot be beat. The print edition, with the exception of Sports, just continues to deteriorate. This iconic news tool, when the elder leadership of the Simons, Gage, et al is gone , is to be watched carefully.
kansasplains1 (Lawrence Morgan) says…
I agree - online the Lawrence Journal-World is tremendous. But there is a place for a local newspaper, and I think the managing editor is right to take that point of view. It is a superb local paper. Holding the paper in your hands and reading it can not be replaced totally by the web.
However, there needs to be a better way to cover world news. I have made the suggestion many times in comments that the Journal-World needs to be the first to broadcast BBC television and French television live in the United States, 24 hours a day, and have web URLs to many different countries. There should be a Kansas section and a World section on the internet. This would bring much greater attention to Lawrence, and the Journal-World, than at present.
I am also thankful that Simons, etc., is in charge. All papers have problems, but this paper is much more than a profit generating machine, unlike many other papers. Maybe eventually it will be run by a foundation, as one possibility. That was discussed by the Washington Post last year, as well as WQXR, the New York Times radio station. People who are better off will give to such a foundation. Take a look at all the money which is given to presidential campaigns. Sooner or later I think it will happen.
The Journal-World does an outstanding job of preparing short video commercials, which I think will eventually provide much needed income in addition to the print version. Many small and large businesses seek good, short videos - in fact, it has been shown that people will go to them for many things. It would be ideal if the Journal-World would keep these short videos for its own income to help support the video and print edition.
The Journal-World does need, though, a better video program.
Journalism has a strong place in a free society. But papers such as the Journal-World go beyond factual reporting to creative articles almost every day - and these are what makes the Journal-World really special. And that lies in the talent shown by the writers and photographers. Look at other major university towns - rarely do they have anything like the Journal-World. In addition to writing, which is often very good, this newspaper has excellent photographers, very unusual for a paper of this size in any country.
mommatocharlie (anonymous) replies…
Yes, there is a place for a local paper. That being said, are they contributing to an isolation because they do such a poor job of letting us know what is going on in the world outside of Lawrence?
littlexav (anonymous) replies…
Maybe. But does it *really* matter to you every day when you're reading the paper whether Egypt has held elections yet? Or can you wait until you get home and flip on the TV?
srj (anonymous) says…
Papers figured out local news and sports was the best way to survive. World news you can get anywhere online. Looks at the KC Star, same thing.
mommatocharlie (anonymous) replies…
unless, of course you don't have a TV or computer
MarcoPogo (anonymous) replies…
Yeah! Bring back the Pony Express!
Easy_Does_It (anonymous) replies…
You can get the NY Times delivered. So stop it.
gl0ck0wn3r (anonymous) replies…
Indeed. It's a trend toward hyperlocalism - their term - and it's one of the only ways newspapers have figured out how to survive by reducing costs. If the paper edition has a page of world news, it is likely old by the time it gets off the press. Meanwhile many people are reading the latest online. It is the same story with stock prices. Remember when papers had page after page of closing prices... from the day before?
FarneyMac (Pádraig O'Connell) says…
Ah yes, what would the "sound off" section of a newspaper be without out-of-touch old people?
"Dear Mr. Simons,
There are too many states nowadays. Please eliminate three.
P.S. I am not a crackpot."
vertigo (Jesse Crittenden) replies…
rofl
RoeDapple (anonymous) says…
Online is the place for me. Updates throughout the day and breaking news that keep me informed. We have taken the paper for forty continuous years now but face it, it's yesterday's news. Many times the wife will read a story to me that interests her which I will reply, Yeah I saw that a day or two ago.
Still hard to beat for the coupons, want ads and comics though.
vertigo (Jesse Crittenden) replies…
I thought you old folk called them "the funny pages".
RoeDapple (anonymous) replies…
OUCH !!
misterlee (anonymous) replies…
Coupons, want ads and comics are important to me. When I'm asked why I like the print version of the Journal-World, I generally reply, "the ads." I consider the ads a form of news. They tell me where I should shop and why. How would I know about sales if not for the paper? The grocery inserts in the Wednesday papers guide me each week. That information just isn't the same online.
beatnik (anonymous) says…
i thought us posters using this forum were the funny pages
RonHolzwarth (Ron Holzwarth) replies…
Speak for you and me, beatnik. The rest of them think they're serious!
classclown (Class Clown) says…
Lawrence found out that the rest of the world not only doesn't think of Lawrence as world class or "all that" but actually couldn't care less about Lawrence, so in typical snooty "well you're stupid!" fashion, Lawrence decided it doesn't care about the rest of the world either. So there!
The LJW is simply reflecting that.
rockchalk1977 (anonymous) says…
I enjoy and appreciate the LJW very much. However, Scott Rothschild seems to have taken it upon himself to bash the Brownback administration on a daily basis. I always thought journalists were supposed to be "independent" thinkers. Am I wrong?
Gandalf (anonymous) replies…
You mean like cal and charlie?
Easy_Does_It (anonymous) says…
How did the writer know that there was "so much news" if it is not communicated in the LJW? must have a news source other than the LJW.
oneeye_wilbur (anonymous) says…
Years ago , like in the early to mid 60s the UDK furnished more "world news" than did the Journal World. The UDK now is birdcage liner. The Journal World runs second to that.
The Journal World is too busy writing about the same old things, heights of hotels, artificial grass, KU Med Center, KU Hospital (neither of course in the community) writing about roundabouts, drop in centers, denial of everything coming before the Planning Commission and then the sending back of items by the City Commission only to be rehashed.
Where would all of the world news fit?
tange (anonymous) says…
Sound Off:
/ my volume knob goes to -1
Yeoman2 (anonymous) says…
The Journal-World is a black hole of republican pablum awash in a community of moderate to liberal thinking. As we have seen recently, the republican facists make being a "moderate" as evil as being a "liberal" (whatefer the hell that imaginary political sobriquet is supposed to mean). This all comes from the slavish devotion to rush limbaugh and his hogwash programs and web site.
I believe the sane thinkers see through the fog and darkness that the managing staff and ownership of the World Company wish to crreate. I have come close to cancelling my paper edition, mostly when I have to go outside to find which area of the flower bed my paper has landed in. But I need newspaper on occasion to pack items for shipment, to line the cat box and wrap fish in.