Typos, grammar aren’t reason for loss of newspaper readers

Published 1:30 am Thursday, May 2, 2019

Recent letters to the editor have suggested that one of the reasons newspaper readerships is down, is because of grammatical errors. Maybe, but I would not put that in the top ten reasons.

After all, the gentlemen negate their own argument by continuing to read the newspaper. How else would they come to that conclusion? Newspaper readership has been going down since the 1960s because a lot of people were getting their news from television. When cable news started on its 24/7 news cycle, readership took another hit. Now with everything being broadcasted on social media, people are spending less time reading newspapers and more time checking their smartphones.

While for some, the monthly cost of a newspaper is not enormous, those dollars do add up for a family of four or more. I have been reading newspapers for decades because I love to be able to re-read a news story, but the last thing I worry about is the incorrect use of a word or phrase. If it is perfection you want, then you will have to do without it. Just enjoy the paper or don’t.

Robert Lewis

Everett