The benefit of reading newspapers

In this first entry of my notebook, I want to express why  newspapers are still the most important source for information about politics, economics, and culture.

I often hear people say that newspapers are just too slow and inflexible in the fast-paced world of the 21st century. They cannot react, the argument goes, immediately as blogs, twitter and others can. But in my opinion, this potential advantage has become a problem. For one thing, politicians are expected to answer questions twenty-four hours a day; and in order to not say anything rash, they just use phrases that do not actually have any content. For another, good journalism needs time for investigation. Also, journalists themselves need to think about new situations and what consequences they may have.

Reading news online, I believe, can help when time is rare. But if one really wants to understand what is going on in the world, they will need to get deeper into the topic. The only possibility which I find satisfying to do so is to read a good newspaper - even in the 21st century.