Even in this digital age, I still like newspapers. I grew up with one of the best: The Washington Post. In the evening, we read the Alexandria Gazette, a decent local rag. In those days, DC had another evening paper, too: The Evening Star. My first Letter to the Editor was published in my high school’s daily newspaper.

For all the grief I give my friends at the Albuquerque Journal, I start each day with it. Granted, it has an awful ratio of news to ads (what nerds call the “signal to noise ratio”). And, too often, when I follow a story to the Web, I find the Journal has truncated it without any notice. (I know, that’s what editors do, but it still shocks me.)

We both wanted very much to like the Tribune. As with the Journal, there were people at the Trib we like. (And some I despise, like Jeffrey Granger.) But the Trib always seemed even less substantial than the Journal, hardly worth waiting for or occupying an evening with. On the other hand, the Trib had a better website than the Journal, which still doesn’t seem to “get it.”

Perhaps, Rupert Murdoch (I bet he got beat up a lot on the playground) will buy the Trib and rename it the Evening Conservative. (“Twilight of the Conservatives” has a nice ring to it.) Stranger things have happened, like Reverend Moon buying the Washington Times, another bastion of deep thinkers.

So, though I didn’t subscribe, I’ll miss the Tribune and Albuquerque will lose something important if it passes. mjh