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Citizen Pain
Mar. 8th, 2025 07:52 pmIt's no secret that in an online age and an online society, it's becoming increasingly difficult to access local news, editorial opinion by real people, considered opinions and analysis by local columnists who are also real people, and so on.
I'm also rather old-fashioned in that I like to get a real newspaper, on real paper, that I can peruse at my leisure while I drink my morning coffee.
In theory, the Ottawa Citizen is supposed to deliver such a paper to us 5 days a week, Tuesdays through Saturdays.
Mind you, the newspaper is only a pale shadow of what it used to be. There are no more movie listings, no TV Guide, no want ads to speak of. Only two skinny sections Tuesday through Friday and four sections on Saturdays. No glossy supplements on the weekend either.
Now, however, we're lucky if they even deliver when they're supposed to. Today was one such no-paper day.
Even last year, if we got missed for any reason, we could make a single phone call and even if we didn't get hold of a real person, it was possible to key in a few details and get the message back "Your complaint has been registered and a paper will be delivered you as soon as possible." And it worked! We usually had a delivery person at the door within an hour.
But now, the recorded message is "Your complaint has been registered and your subscription will be extended." Ummm, I don't WANT a credit, I want the @#$%^ newspaper!!
The other message we keep getting is that we can still access the e-paper. But even that doesn't seem to work any more!!
Their slogan, displayed prominently on their editorial page, is "Fair Play and Daylight."
But if the delivery person does actually show up as scheduled on Tuesday morning, it certainly won't be daylight, since this is the weekend we "Spring ahead", making for some depressingly dark mornings for the foreseeable future!
I'm also rather old-fashioned in that I like to get a real newspaper, on real paper, that I can peruse at my leisure while I drink my morning coffee.
In theory, the Ottawa Citizen is supposed to deliver such a paper to us 5 days a week, Tuesdays through Saturdays.
Mind you, the newspaper is only a pale shadow of what it used to be. There are no more movie listings, no TV Guide, no want ads to speak of. Only two skinny sections Tuesday through Friday and four sections on Saturdays. No glossy supplements on the weekend either.
Now, however, we're lucky if they even deliver when they're supposed to. Today was one such no-paper day.
Even last year, if we got missed for any reason, we could make a single phone call and even if we didn't get hold of a real person, it was possible to key in a few details and get the message back "Your complaint has been registered and a paper will be delivered you as soon as possible." And it worked! We usually had a delivery person at the door within an hour.
But now, the recorded message is "Your complaint has been registered and your subscription will be extended." Ummm, I don't WANT a credit, I want the @#$%^ newspaper!!
The other message we keep getting is that we can still access the e-paper. But even that doesn't seem to work any more!!
Their slogan, displayed prominently on their editorial page, is "Fair Play and Daylight."
But if the delivery person does actually show up as scheduled on Tuesday morning, it certainly won't be daylight, since this is the weekend we "Spring ahead", making for some depressingly dark mornings for the foreseeable future!
