Is the 'Albuquerque Journal' the worst newspaper in America?

[left-of-center2012]

In my 75 years I have lived from Pennsylvania to Maine to Florida to California and points in between.
I have never seen a worse daily paper than the 'Albuquerque Journal'.

I once had a bank teller tell me "We have the best newspaper in the country."
I asked her if she'd ever read a newspaper from outside New Mexico and she replied "Well, no".

With all that is going on in the country and world,
today's Sunday edition's front page features a dog's 10th birthday, a 21 year old creating a water bottle design, and (once again) crime in Albuquerque.

You won't find the latest breaking news ~ just 'fluff'.
Oh, and the font size is so small; I guess it's a cost saving measure?

"The Albuquerque Journal is a daily newspaper published in Albuquerque, N.M.
The paper is owned by Journal Publishing Company, which is headed by brothers T.H. and W.P. Lang"

[Shrike47]

1. You haven't seen the Eugene, Oregon RegisterGuard, have you?

Terrible, these days. Used to be good, but got sold a couple of years ago. Pitiful now.

[alittlelark]

2. Quite possibly. I read it once a week

When I go into town, spend the night and go to the coffee shop with my dad. The paper is now $2.00 !!!! Mighty expensive way to line the birdcage or wrap a fish. It's so small u could only wrap 2-3 fish in it! It is a wretched RW rag.

[BoomaofBandM]

3. Probably a lot of competition for that title.

Cancelled our local paper many years ago when I got tired of the right leaning bend. Do not watch much local news for the same reason. I may have kept it if it had fluff instead of raging republicans. I miss the daily crossword puzzle.

[agingdem]

9. El Paso Times

I cancelled my subscription years ago...over the years the paper went from being a somewhat decent local paper to what I call The Morbid Times...burglaries, car accidents, overturned semi's, fire ravaged homes, kids killed on the way to school, head-on collisions and the number of dead..

[RainCaster]

4. Don't forget the Tri-City Herald

It's been a far Reich Wing rag since I was a little boy, probably far longer than that. I can remember all the love it had for Nixon when he came to town.

[Ponietz]

5. Sniveling, obfuscatory, and irrelevant

The Journal refused to endorse a 2020 Presidential candidate.
https://www.abqjournal.com/1510654/journal-recaps-nov-3-election-endorsements.html

[paleotn]

6. Other than a handful of big name papers...

all have gone this route. Changes in the market, ie. the internet and the rise of cable news, killed them. Ad revenue, newspaper bread and butter, has plunged the last 40 years. Staff cuts to make ends meet plus consolidation has destroyed the local newspaper industry. Other than a few local fluff pieces, the papers in damn near every medium sized American city are identical.

Gone are the days when we waited for the morning paper to see what's going on locally and in the wider world, since TV news didn't come on until supper time. If the paper was late, you knew something big was happening...or a press broke down. Politicians no longer fear locals who buy paper by the roll and ink by the barrel.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

7. Sunday editions of lots of papers

are filled with "human interest" stories. Lots of newspapers are going to have similar front page stories on a Sunday.

Heck, the Sunday Denver Post, at least when I lived in Colorado about three decades ago, hit the newsstands late Saturday afternoon. Which meant that any kind of news breaking after noon Saturday wouldn't be reported until Monday.

No, the Albuquerque Journal is far from being the worst newspaper out there.

[Prof. Toru Tanaka]

8. Look at Albuquerque geographically...

There are no cities with over 100,000 people within 200 miles of the city. Las Cruces (pop. 102,000) is the closest at 222 miles.

El Paso is 265 miles away and Phoenix is 419 miles.

The city is relatively isolated so it is not surprising local stories make the front pages. Perhaps the publishers of the paper figure local residents will go to the internet or cable/satellite for national and world news.

Take away interstates 25 and 40 and Albuquerque would be truly off the beaten path, like Santa Fe. But I am not saying that is a bad thing; Santa Fe has been rated as a very nice place to live.

[comradebillyboy]

11. Santa Fe is very nice but also very very expensive.

It's so expensive a substantial portion of state government workers commute from Albuquerque.

[Prof. Toru Tanaka]

13. I'll bet that is a tough drive at times in the winter

seeing as how Santa Fe is in the mountains. I would think they keep I-25 plowed pretty well when there is snow.

I would like to visit Santa Fe and Taos one day. Living in Arizona for a few years made me very fond of the southwestern US.

[comradebillyboy]

14. My wife used to make that commute. They do a good job

of keeping I-25 open except for the worst winter storms.

[Prof. Toru Tanaka]

15. That is good- I'll bet she was glad they constructed the "Big I".

I passed through Albuquerque several times over the years on I-40. Great view of the city when I approached from the east coming down from the Sandia Mountains.

[luckone]

10. Thanks, and if anyone can rec any of ABQ's better news sources (TV radio or print) I'll be there in

September for business a while and I would appreciate any info ( or even what to avoid like local Sinclair owned stations , other print etc)

I hate to come back @ the 5 o’clock hour turn on a hotel tv just to relax and figure I’ll watch the local news for some local flavor and find out it’s a RW local Sinclair station or something
One time was in STL I think and I started to fall asleep when I started watching TV and then I woke up to some sick racist bs long commentary on a local news station WTH ? How does that pass for local affiliate news?
No fan of those fluff papers like the Journal devoid of actual news either so glad I know now

[left-of-center2012]

12. I'm in Albuquerque

I prefer channel 7 KOAT for local news and they have the ABC national news.

I avoid channel 13 KRQE.
Their weatherman ran for U.S. Senate last year unsuccessfully, saying he wanted to do for New Mexico what Trump was doing for America.
"Build the wall ! Cut social programs !"

[TexasTowelie]

16. The Journal won't let anybody read any of their articles without paying for a subscription.

I go to sites throughout the country and they allow at least some of their articles. With every article being locked behind a paywall it becomes pointless to go to their site. The owners would have better luck growing their readership if at least some of the articles were available without a subscription.