La Journalia E Finita

I mentioned last November that I canceled my subscription to the Wall Street Journal after less than a year because I was not pleased with its coverage of the election and its aftermath.

I’ve also said before that I have tended to let the Wall Street Journal pile up on those occasions when I’ve subscribed to it; last November, I recognized:

I am pretty sure that it will stack up unless I make a concerted effort to clear it out, and I might as I try to get some sort of record player running this holiday season which might involve putting a component system in the parlor.

I did, in fact, get a working turntable in the parlor last year, but I had several inches of Wall Street Journals piled up.

They’ve yellowed over the year as I piled others in my local papers on top and then popped the most recent papers off of the top. Since I’m taking, what, nine local papers per week (one of which comes twice a week), I’ve gotten into the habit of sitting in the parlor and reading papers. Which has included the stack of Wall Street Journals.

So yesterday afternoon, I finished off a couple of issues from September and October 2020. Again, I quote myself last November:

And, as is the norm, the papers started piling up unread until I would (or will) months later tear through them weeks at a time, only glancing at the headlines and shaking my head, thinking We had it so good then; I know how all of this turns out.

The headlines almost a year ago? COVID, COVID, COVID, election, Trump is bad! and so on.

Not too much different than what I see on the Internet and the front page of the Daily Dammit, Gannett here in town. Only they’re more shrill now.

And to quote myself again:

But you know what I will miss? The feature writing in the Personal Journal and Friday/weekend sections along with the book, television, movie, and music reviews. The same things I rather miss out of the National Review.

Also true. But it’s not worth $25 a month or more.

Will that be the last time I subscribe to the Wall Street Journal? Time will tell, I reckon, but this time it’s not so much that it’s expensive and piles up, but also that its news coverage is not very straight any more. So probably.