The Guardian

jellyroll

Looking at the company accounts*, the paper is in dire straits. Lost £55m in the year to April 2018. At that rate of loss, they are probably just about insolvent by now. (Company had net assets of £23m at April, so probably eroded to nil now)

I'll cough up for a subscription, but they need about another 1 million people to do the same just to break even....

*See Companies House - Guardian News & Media Ltd

Kitsune

I think they some good writers, some shite writers and a whole lot I don't agree with. Certainly not enough for me to feel its worth paying for.

thecolourbox

Do you get a free bottle of mineral water worth more than your donation like you do with the Telegraph in WH Smith? That's the only time I buy a newspaper (for better or worse) as in airports you can't take your own water in. The paper goes back on the shelf once I've scanned it through the self serve machine.

I always think it's a good illustration of the absurdity of modern life. "Buying" a bottle of water because you can't find the free water fountain hidden in a small corner of the gates area, by purchasing a newspaper you don't use and therefore put back on the shelf, which is located to the side of a person-less self serve checkout, which is guarded by the person who used to work on the tills before they introduced the self serve checkouts. And as a result, not only are the Telegraph's sales figures boosted, but their actual influence amongst their brilliantly hydrated customers is actually reducing because nobody reads it, they just drink their free water that they paid for (which they couldn't get for free due to airport security or they couldn't find the hidden free drinking fountain).

Not sure this is relevant to the op but I'm bored on a train, I can't reach my headphones in the overhead luggage rack and my Kit Kat milkshake has run out

Kitsune

Why don't you just buy the bottle of water?

thecolourbox

Kitsune said:

Why don't you just buy the bottle of water?

Because it's cheaper to buy the paper and I'm a nihilist

TheBigDipper

ToneControl said:

TheBigDipper said:

I support The Guardian with the small annual contribution, too. Then I don't feel bad when I get a free copy 2-3 times a week at Waitrose. (How metropolitan liberal elite am I?). I like fact it's not "owned" in the same way most papers are, I can tell the difference between news stories, columns and opinion pieces, too. Their investigative work also deserves support. 

I had assumed that Waitrose pay in full for the newspaper, it appears on your receipt after all

No idea. It's free to me, obv. No idea if Waitrose pay for it or not. I'd quite like to know, actually. Anyone? 

gringopig

.

thecolourbox

gringopig said:

The best solution I've found is to completely ignore all forms of news media at all times. I no longer feel the need to be informed about things that are of no concern to me and am no longer worried/irked/upset and affected in any way. Strangely, life becomes richer without other people forcing their world views on you.

My world is quite similar, except that twice a year, my hydration level is above average in a departure hall

Winny_Pooh

gringopig said:

The best solution I've found is to completely ignore all forms of news media at all times. I no longer feel the need to be informed about things that are of no concern to me and am no longer worried/irked/upset and affected in any way. Strangely, life becomes richer without other people forcing their world views on you.

Ignore news reporting? So you're a Daily Mail reader. 

thecolourbox

Winny_Pooh said:

gringopig said:

The best solution I've found is to completely ignore all forms of news media at all times. I no longer feel the need to be informed about things that are of no concern to me and am no longer worried/irked/upset and affected in any way. Strangely, life becomes richer without other people forcing their world views on you.

Ignore news reporting? So you're a Daily Mail reader. 

Or journalist

EricTheWeary

TheBigDipper said:

ToneControl said:

TheBigDipper said:

I support The Guardian with the small annual contribution, too. Then I don't feel bad when I get a free copy 2-3 times a week at Waitrose. (How metropolitan liberal elite am I?). I like fact it's not "owned" in the same way most papers are, I can tell the difference between news stories, columns and opinion pieces, too. Their investigative work also deserves support. 

I had assumed that Waitrose pay in full for the newspaper, it appears on your receipt after all

No idea. It's free to me, obv. No idea if Waitrose pay for it or not. I'd quite like to know, actually. Anyone? 

Again based on listening to the Media Show on Radio 4 most print papers and periodicals give away a considerable proportion free. I suspect Waitrose don't pay anything, appearing on the reciept is more likely to do with tracking numbers or even trends ( Guardian readers buy more taramasalata or whatever). 

randella

thecolourbox said:

Winny_Pooh said:

gringopig said:

The best solution I've found is to completely ignore all forms of news media at all times. I no longer feel the need to be informed about things that are of no concern to me and am no longer worried/irked/upset and affected in any way. Strangely, life becomes richer without other people forcing their world views on you.

Ignore news reporting? So you're a Daily Mail reader. 

Or journalist

Joking aside (and I do that thing with the water as well) one of the staff at the Guardian tried this. He ignored all news reporting for a month and said he felt an awful lot happier at the end of it. 

What their day job was and how this fitted, I can’t quite recall - it was genuinely interesting nonetheless. 

roberty

They've had to sack a lot of staff including journalists due to lost revenue. A paywall would fuck their mission. So they don't have many options

Gary Younge has this to say about identity politics, no doubt it will twist a few white man's knickers

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/oct/05/no-shock-powerful-hate-identity-politics

Chalky

"If we don't pay for it, it will disappear".

And other things will take its place. Twas ever thus.

Bridgehouse

roberty said:

They've had to sack a lot of staff including journalists due to lost revenue. A paywall would fuck their mission. So they don't have many options

Gary Younge has this to say about identity politics, no doubt it will twist a few white man's knickers

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/oct/05/no-shock-powerful-hate-identity-politics

It looks like they also sacked their only proof-reader..

57Deluxe

I'm watching BBC drama 'Press' - same arguments!

Veganic

roberty said:

They've had to sack a lot of staff including journalists due to lost revenue. A paywall would fuck their mission. So they don't have many options

Gary Younge has this to say about identity politics, no doubt it will twist a few white man's knickers

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/oct/05/no-shock-powerful-hate-identity-politics

@roberty ;

I have read that a few times and I am struggling to find a coherent point that doesn't rely on me already agreeing with what is said and more importantly what is not said.
Have you read it?
What do you think he is saying?

roberty

Veganic said:

roberty said:

They've had to sack a lot of staff including journalists due to lost revenue. A paywall would fuck their mission. So they don't have many options

Gary Younge has this to say about identity politics, no doubt it will twist a few white man's knickers

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/oct/05/no-shock-powerful-hate-identity-politics

@roberty ;

I have read that a few times and I am struggling to find a coherent point that doesn't rely on me already agreeing with what is said and more importantly what is not said.
Have you read it?
What do you think he is saying?

I'm struggling to find a coherent point in what you're saying tbh 

randella

Chalky said:

"If we don't pay for it, it will disappear".

And other things will take its place. Twas ever thus.

If I could bank on the replacement being a quality news outlet with a left-wing slant to balance the majority of privately-owned media in this country which tends to the right, then fine. 

If it’s to be some bollocks mouthpiece for Momentum, like the Canary, then we’re all the poorer. 

Veganic

roberty said:

Veganic said:

roberty said:

They've had to sack a lot of staff including journalists due to lost revenue. A paywall would fuck their mission. So they don't have many options

Gary Younge has this to say about identity politics, no doubt it will twist a few white man's knickers

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/oct/05/no-shock-powerful-hate-identity-politics

@roberty ;

I have read that a few times and I am struggling to find a coherent point that doesn't rely on me already agreeing with what is said and more importantly what is not said.
Have you read it?
What do you think he is saying?

I'm struggling to find a coherent point in what you're saying tbh 

My main point is that I don't know what the argument is in the article. 

The rest is not a point as such, just a plea for some assistance in understanding the article that you have kindly offered up for comment.

So can you pick out his main argument(s) for me so I can re-read it and make some sense of it please? 

(Assuming you are not just being weird and you understood me very well but wanted to make me feel inferior with a snide reply - apologies for even thinking this might happen on the internet if it is not the case.)