Andrew / January 20, 2005 11:17 AM

Wall Street Journal every day. I read the Sun-Times and Tribune via news.google, and the Reader almost every week.

My biggest complaint about the Reader is that they don't put their feature articles online where we could link to them.

Naz / January 20, 2005 11:19 AM

I actually rarely read newspapers in print anymore. During my teenage years I voraciously read them (mostly because they were in the household) but with the advent of the interwebbything, it's been all online.

New York Times of course, CNN and BBC.

I am quite fond of NewsMap though.

Mike / January 20, 2005 11:44 AM

I read the Chicago Tribune every morning, I always look over the WSJ at lunch and once a week I'll buy a New York Times (usually Saturday). Usually skim the Reader for anything that catches my eye, but usually there isn't anything.
On top of that, neighborhood newspapers have always interested me and I try to read whatever I can get my hands on; The Chicago Journal, Extra, City Link (before it went under), the Hyde Park Herald (when I'm down there). There's a paper for Wicker Park too, called the Booster, it's from a suburban company that doesn't know a damn thing about living in Chicago city limits (even the ads are for suburban businesses), it's the worst neighborhood paper I've ever seen.

paul / January 20, 2005 11:52 AM

I get everything I need from the Onion.

Joe / January 20, 2005 12:34 PM

The Onion

It's the only news I can stomach (har har).

Craig / January 20, 2005 12:48 PM

Notes on local newspapers:

- "There's a paper for Wicker Park too, called the Booster..." I just got a phone solicitation from them the other day that seemed shady... the salesperson kept saying kept saying 'your neighborhood'-- never actually saying the paper was 'for' Wicker Park until I asked. Odd.

- I pick up the Chicago Journal when I'm at work (in the West Loop). Not only is it a really well-done local paper, but I know for a fact that one of the writers posts on Gapers Block occasionally.

- The Reader's new cover design still pisses me off.

Thurston / January 20, 2005 1:00 PM

I read the Trib for local news, the NY Times for national and the Financial Times for international coverage, all of which I think excel in those respective areas, but leave something to be desired otherwise. I read all of these online.

For great coverage of Latin America, those who can read Spanish should try the Argentine daily Clarin or the Chilean daily El Mercurio.

Mike / January 20, 2005 1:30 PM

Craig--
The Booster is owned by Lerner, which in turn is owned by Pioneer Press. I know their game exactly, because I used to work for a company very similar to Lerner:
They pitch ads to prospective people by saying that they cover the entire Chicagoland area, and rates vary depending on how many papers you get into. They also claim they "target" certain areas with the different publications, and as you can see right here, they're not exactly the most informed people when it actually comes to the areas they cover.
For the actual readers, they adjust the front and third page to whomever they think their audience is. These two pages are the only thing that really have to do with the neighborhood. They also add in some local high school sports scores. Other than that, the different versions are the same in every market.
It's a racket more than anything, and somehow they're audited if they're actually a member of the IL Press Assoc., but I guarantee they're probably fudging on the circulation numbers. That's Chicago I guess.

daruma / January 20, 2005 1:56 PM

If I don't read the paper I feel lost. The Sun-Times (I'm kind of surprised people on here say the read the Tribune); The Reader; Chicago Free-Press; Windy City Times; New City (why not, it only takes 5 minutes these days.)

davin / January 20, 2005 3:01 PM

nytimes.com and reader
all the time

Sarah / January 20, 2005 3:35 PM

I read the New York Times online every day, and sometimes the Guardian from London as well. I seem to only read the Trib or the Sun-Times when GB links to a story, and when I'm checking out arts/music/film reviews.

I read the Chicago Reader and also really like the "Generation Debt" column in the Village Voice. The Red Eye is a rag but I do love doing their crossword puzzles. They're kind of dumb too, but then again I'm not particularly good at doing crossword puzzles.

Sarah / January 20, 2005 3:41 PM

BTW, I just want to add that English newspapers are waaaay more entertaining than American newspapers. The Guardian is snarky, smart, informative and fun to read. The Times publishes stories on the second page with headlines like "Telula the Bunny Gets a Tummy Tuck" and "US Surgeon Accidentally Invents Orgasmatron". And the tabloids have naked girls on page three!

Kris / January 20, 2005 4:05 PM

I read the NYTimes online every day (I subscribe to get the headlines in my inbox). Other meta-news is the mediabistro newsletter for media stuff, and ArtsJournal for arts news from all over.

As for locals, I'll check the Trib online, but if I pick up a paper at the stand it's always the Sun-Times. (Dirty secret: I hate the RedEye, but we get it free in my building most mornings, and I'll totally pick it up.) The Reader almost every week, the Free Press occasionally, and NewCity to read the one article and see what plays Nina Metz bitterly dismisses this week.

vit / January 20, 2005 5:27 PM

from the booster website "the burgeoning rehabilitated areas if Lincoln Park, Bucktown, Wicker Park, Ukrainian Village and more traditional family neighborhoods of mid-north come to mind."

yeah, those guys are idiots, this east village resident never even heard of it. I read most of my papers online, they are usually The Trib., NYT, and The Guardian, and if given one of those Red papers for free, I'll read that on the "EL" for a laugh.

Leelah / January 20, 2005 5:51 PM

The Tribune online and the Sun-Times online... for their two horoscopes!

Brandy / January 20, 2005 11:24 PM

Only pieces of newspaper left on trains and buses I'm on.

Mike-TS / January 20, 2005 11:30 PM

In print:
Reader (I agree with Craig, the new Section 1 format sucks, plus what's up with all the crappy color? - it's a real newspaper, dang it, not some Red rag)
Sunday Chicago Trib
Onion - very accurate horoscope
Wall Street Journal - once a week, usually Thursday or Friday

Online:
nwitimes.com (news for da Region Rat)
WNUR's "this Is Hell" article listing (I treat it like a weekly paper)
Explorator (ditto, for archaeological stuff - oh what a dork I am)

Maureen / January 21, 2005 5:45 AM

When I lived in Chicago, I regularly read the print editions of the Trib (I loathe the Sun-Times), the Reader, the Onion, and occasionally the Washington Post and NY Times, and other pubs. online.

Now because I live overseas I read everything online, except for Al-Quds newspaper which I read in print. I read the Trib, Onion, Manchester Guardian, London Independent, Beirut Daily Star, Ha'aretz, Jordan Times, NY Times pretty much daily, plus whatever interests me on Google news.

MC High Life / January 21, 2005 10:00 AM

Sun-Times for print, Tribune online. The Tribune web page is so much easier to navigate through than the Sun-Times. Yeah, you have to register for Tribune online but I'd rather do that then deal with those annoying pop-up ads on the Sun-Times site.

I read Crain's as well but I suppose that is more of a magazine than a newspaper.

e_five / January 21, 2005 10:05 AM

Every once in a while I pick up the Red Eye just to remind myself how truly soul-disfiguring celebrity news can be. It's not enough that there are about 60 hours of celebrity news programming on television every single day, countless magazines, and celebrity worship culture infusing almost every area of the media-- now we have a vessel for celebrity gossip that vaguely borrows the gravitas of the local newspaper of record (whether we like it or not).

The Tribune itself going up against the Sun-Times in a marketing-driven battle to outflank each other on the right wing is also demoralizing. I don't buy them anymore-- I read nytimes.com and the opinion page of the Washington Post.

tony / January 21, 2005 10:23 AM

I read the New York Times primarily, and the Trib to a lesser extent. Also on my list are the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

All online. If I subscribed to print editions for all of them my apartment would soon be full of stacks of newspaper that I'm too lazy to take out for recycling.

Pete / January 21, 2005 11:20 AM

Tribune and New York Times online every day, plus Tribune print edition on Sundays. Primary complaint is the Trib's ongoing blind fealty to right-wing politicians.

Steve / January 21, 2005 11:48 AM

I've pretty much let lefty bloggers steer me toward news I can use on a daily basis to an unfortunate degree. I get the Trib five days a week (Wed-Sun, oddly enough) but since I moved a smidge closer to downtown during my last apartment switch, I no longer get a seat on the el and hence no longer read the paper daily.

In terms of our two major local dailies, the S-T has better local coverage and the Trib is better for news from outside 606 and 605. The Reds are silly.

I'm intrigued by the kvetching about the editorial slants of our papers, since there are some noteworthy papers that show a massive chasm between the ravings of the "editorial board" and the actual news coverage. For all the rightward leanings of the editorials in our two dailies and the Wall Street Journal, those papers provide some pretty good balanced journalism. Similarly, while the NYT is regularly wacked with a massive club by the "liberal media bias" crowd, their coverage of Whitewater, the 2000 election, and the runup to the War in Iraq very much favored the conservative viewpoint....

Ann-Marie / January 21, 2005 12:26 PM

I just recently cancelled my subscription to the Trib. I told the lady on the phone the reason was (when asked why) that I am a casualty of the paper endorsing Bush. She said that she wanted to make sure I knew that the endorsement was not the view of everyone at the Tribune company. I said "Oh yeah?, Why has the news-paper delivery gal been throwing the block of paper harder and harder at my font door every day since the election?" She did not know why.

Pasto / January 21, 2005 12:35 PM

I subscribe to the New York Times and the Financial Times--both great for national, international, & cultural coverage--I especially like the Financial Times' European perspective.

I look at both the Trib & Sun Times online daily. I love the fact that Chicago is a two paper town and hope that it continues, but I can't see subscribing since I can rarely get through one of the aforementioned papers.

I occacionally buy La Raza to keep up with my Spanish--they seem to have interesting local coverage. They were recently sold to a San Antonio company, so I hope this doesn't adversely affect their local coverage. I also purchase the Chicago Defender when I see it--although it has lost much of the edge that made it such an important paper in the city's (and nation's) history. I hear they have a new editor, so we may see some changes.

In Evanston I always pick up the Evanston Roundtable--a weekly tabloid that is giving the bromidic Pioneer Press-owned Evanston Review a run for its money. It is an excellent community paper.

I also get the Daily Northwestern which has good coverage of Evanston politics--and it's Evanston's only daily!

Oh yeah, always the Reader and the Onion--and sometimes the Chicago Jewish Star.

Enough, already!

Michael / January 21, 2005 12:47 PM

I read the Sun-Times because it has the best format for reading on the train. I stopped reading the Trib once Royko died. My one major complaint with the Sun-Times is that they need to start using an ink that doesn't turn your hands and/or khakis black when reading a fresh copy.

Mike / January 21, 2005 1:28 PM

Sarah--
The English papers do rock, and there's a huge variety too. When I would go to a newsstand in London, there'd be about 20 different papers consistently: the Financial Times, The Mirror, the Guardian (best features), the Independent, the Free Scotsman, the Irish, Indian and Arabic papers...
Sigh, if only Chicago had that kind of selection.

amy / January 21, 2005 3:51 PM

I read the Trib and the Sun-Times, interspersed during the week. I prefer the Sun-Times bc its not quite as smug as the Trib. But neither paper really attacks the crappiness of the city. They need to cover more in depth the total decline in the quality of living, the increasingly punitive nature of the city govt. There are hundreds of examples of this everyday in chicago. the fat cats get fatter, the regular guys get squeezed out, and the city nickles and dimes you over everything. Chicago needs a revolution.

Lisa (Leelah) / January 21, 2005 4:15 PM

I think the advice columnist for the Sun Times writes her own questions. Either that or everyone in Chicago asking for advice has the exact same annoyingly choppy writing style.

Grant Gryska / January 24, 2005 8:50 AM

In my opinion, chicago newspapers are pretty useless across the board unless you are reading them for sports coverage or to get info on sales. When I read the news, I try and hit up the Wall Steet Journal, Financial Times, International Herald Tribune and various internet sources. Anyone who sticks to local papers is missing out on just about everything important...besides coupons that is.

Joe / January 24, 2005 9:19 AM

I try and read the Sun-Times, however my staples are the Washington Post, the New York Times, the New York Daily News (just for a laugh), and Roll Call, the newspaper of Capitol Hill (i'm a govt employee... gotta keep up with govt musings). My hometown Youngstown (OH) Vindicator isn't bad either.