What Kind of Newspaper Do You Read?

[Gerrard59]

Until the coming of blogs (which the vast majority are Ctrl + c and v), newspapers reigned as the numero uno of information especially political news. Different newspapers for different folks of interest and even regions. Punch sold more in the south west (she reported more news here than anywhere in Nigeria), Daily Post North of the River Niger, Guardian Nigeria had correspondents across Nigeria (my observations), Vanguard was mainly SS/SE. Daily Sun abi Daily Tabloid? Funny headlines and mainly SE. Thisday, I touched few times.

As time progressed, I "graduated" to The Economist, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian UK (about to stop my readership of this paper; too leftist and socialist leaning), The Straits Times of Singapore, The Financial Times London, The Telegraph, Japan Times and The Times of Israel. There's a way The Economist, NYT and Financial Times journalists write that will make you read till tomorrow. The flow, vocabularies, punctuation, use of data and tables to support an argument and even the witty headline . You learn beyond the news. The Business Day is learning from them. Hitherto the emergence of Buhari as the president, I subscribed for The FT and Economist. But after bros became president, I opted for the free version. I tactically observe the comments on FB pages and the headline before clicking. Lemme not run out of awoof.

As for Nigerian papers, I only read The Guardian. The Punch is too bias (2015 elections exposed everything about them). The Vanguard is too unreliable. But I must give it to Punch for their colourful pages, only thing I miss.

So What Kind of Newspaper Do You Read?

[Maclatunji]

I rarely read newspapers these days. But back in the day, I read the Guardian a lot and sometimes the Punch.

[Gerrard59]

I rarely read newspapers these days. But back in the day, I read the Guardian a lot and sometimes the Punch.

It is the more reason top Nigerian papers need to put a paywall online or omit very relevant sections from being online. If not, they are digging their way to insolvency. However, before that is done, writing, reportage and investigative journalism have to be further uplifted.

[Jarus]

Good topic.


I was a newspaper junkie.

Started reading newspapers from primary 3. I read anything I could read - including oil-soaked newspapers used to wrap akara.

This made me the best student in current affairs in primary school, scoring 100% in several terms. I knew every Minister in IBB era by their names and portfolio, all state governors etc.

Dad used to buy Guardian. So Guardian was the main paper I read then.

In secondary school, it continued. I would leave school, use N5 from my daily pocket money to go read newspapers at vendors stands. It was N5 for 4 papers. Dad caught me in one of those days - in JSS 3 - when I skipped school to go read papers at vendors stand.

My favourites then were Punch, Guardian, Tribune and Herald (owned by Kwara SG). I

Punch was my favourite during my university days. I liked Guardian too, but their columnists wrote on issues that too technical for my liking, which I found boring.

I became exposed to ThisDay when I graduated and moved to Lagos. ThisDay was elitist. But I liked it.


During my service year, I spent at least 3 hours everyday at the vendors' stand. I became exposed to Daily Trust.


When I came back, my interest in newspapers continued, was buying between 2-4 everyday (SUN, Nation, ThisDay and BusinessDay).

I had a room full of newspapers.

I stopped buying papers in 2012 or thereabout and completely moved online.

Your reading international publications like The Economist, WSJ, Washington Post etc is good for you. They improve your use of English and you get to be aware of international perspective. It will be helpful for you in your career.

And yes, like you mentioned, the way The Economist etc write is something else. Those guys are masters of words. Their humour is something else. They are the real king of "sub".

[Ibn Ibrahim]

I love reading The Nation, especially the editorials.