Why I still buy newspapers

Recently, I was in a bookstore and bought two literary classics and a copy of the Philippine Daily Inquirer at the checkout. The young lady standing behind me was surprised and asked me why I still buy a daily newspaper. I simply replied that at 58, I’m still “old school” and love printed paper, which is less susceptible to online fake news or hacking.

She laughed and said it wasn’t such a silly thing to do; she’d never thought about it before. Her information comes from YouTube and “influencers.” Did she know how these influencers received their journalistic training? She couldn’t answer that question. She also couldn’t say where they live based on their imprint, or which publisher or organization issues their paychecks. Whether there are cross-references to stories, where one can follow them, and what sources the information comes from, is a question she’d never seen on her news pages.

She also said she’d never seen a contact email like the Inquirer’s “readersadvocate@inquirer.com.ph.” She was probably surprised that one could write to a newspaper or editor personally. They don’t write anonymously.

Anyway, as the line approached the checkout, she grabbed an Inquirer and bought it—perhaps holding a daily newspaper for the first time in her life. I didn’t know whether, at the end of the day, I should be happy or despairing.

Is there light at the end of the tunnel, or is this just the light of a train coming our way? We’ll just wait and see. But many people today might prefer to live online rather than in real life. As the French philosopher Albert Camus said: “The true horror of existence is not the fear of death, but the fear of life. It is the fear of waking up every day to face the same struggles, the same disappointments, the same pain. It is the fear that nothing will ever change, that you are trapped in a cycle of suffering that you cannot escape.”