Comments:

Larry Kestenbaum - 2004-02-09 00:38:34
Lots of us detest the Ann Arbor News, especially its editorial line and its grossly incomplete, difficult-to-use web site. But we should realize that the standard for news media in an area this size is execrable. There is a steep disincentive agaist a paper being any good, because being good is labor intensive; it requires hiring and keeping lots of good reporters and writers. It is much cheaper to put out a crappy paper and not care. Advertising revenue is the same either way. To its credit, the Ann Arbor News actually makes an effort to cover the politics and government of its region. That kind of conscious effort has become rarer and rarer. As I wrote on AAIO, I don't know of any better local daily paper in Michigan.
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Michael McC. - 2004-02-09 07:13:24
If it's really the best daily paper in Michigan, then that's the real tragedy. They just seem to pull everything off of the wire to me. I get it for the local events, but it's always been an ad rag to me. I really loathe it. Provincial would be a polite description.
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Larry Kestenbaum - 2004-02-09 08:42:27
It is a real tragedy. Compare any sizeable daily newspaper's local political coverage fifty or seventy years ago with today's.

Admittedly the population in most metro areas has spread out across more jurisdictions, so that the task of covering local government and politics is larger, but then, the readership and the resources are larger now too.
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Leighton - 2004-02-09 15:12:56
It is terrible, especially for being in a town with a university that thinks itself so close to Ivy League (not). But for its circulation, slack is allowed on depth of reporting. Typos are inexcusable though. This isn't a local Blog - it's a paper serving a twon full of writers and wannabes.
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Leighton - 2004-02-09 15:13:05
It is terrible, especially for being in a town with a university that thinks itself so close to Ivy League (not). But for its circulation, slack is allowed on depth of reporting. Typos are inexcusable though. This isn't a local Blog - it's a paper serving a town full of writers and wannabes.
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Laura - 2004-02-09 20:02:41
So far, the breakdown, based on comments: Good: political/local governmental coverage (for its day), local events coverage. Bad: difficult-to-use web site, "editorial line" (?) pulling everything off the wire, provincial, shallow reporting (implied), typos. +LB: rotten comics: the Freep has two pages a day & 4 on Saturday!
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Steve - 2004-02-09 22:48:24
Worst. Website. Ever. As a former small town newspaper reporter/editor, I can form no opinion on the reportage in the News ... because the Website is so bleedin' atrocious I my eyes cross before I get past the leading 'graph.
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Murph - 2004-02-09 22:55:06
But if you'll notice, the A2 News doesn't run their own website--that's sadly some pretty standard software; not only is it used across Michigan in MLive, but it makes appearances at nj.com and a dozen other newspaper clusters. I take it the company that writes the software spends more money on marketing than on coding.
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Laura - 2004-02-10 00:08:56
I agree with you, Steve--and I'm working from a dial-up modem, here, so it's even more annoying to have all those useless links laboriously load when I just want to see the news. I also agree with Murph: the news seems decidedly secondary to all the marketing infesting the site.
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Brian - 2004-02-10 10:22:22
I've found it's easier to buy their paper than look at their website. That's a brilliant marketing ploy if I ever saw one.
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Laura - 2004-02-10 21:11:57
Me too...even on my fast computer connection at work, it takes forever to load and it's quite un-user friendly--I can rarely find things easily.
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