No Depth Articles, but it looks pretty in the birdcage!
Written: Dec 11 '00
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Pros: short stories that don't continue 20 pages away
Cons: short stories that lack depth and detail
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| naphtalia's Full Review: USA Today |
I first encountered USA Today when staying with my significant other on business trips. This was often the paper that the hotel gave to us as complimentary reading. I can understand this. It is short, so the bellboys didn't have to carry much material to each of the doors on the executive floor. It didn't cover any local information, but then the people who were staying at the hotel on business probably didn't care too much about the latest street fair in Fresno, or the sandcastle contest in San Diego.
I, who was not in town on business, did care about those things. I had to kill time until my s.o. finished his business meetings. My general impression was that this newspaper was very colorful and attractive. I thought, however, that I could get as much depth about a story from watching a television newscast. That's a pretty pathetic thing to say.
I remember in the movie "The Big Chill" one of the men worked for "People" magazine. He said that one of the requirements was that an article had to be short enough to read while taking care of things in the bathroom. That idea fits with USA Today, too. You can read one article while brushing your teeth (assuming you do a fairly decent job of it.) You can read another article while waiting for and riding down in an elevator. Depending on how early you get to a bus stop, you can read two or three more articles there.
It's not that the writing is bad. It's actually pretty decent. It's just that like many epinions, it needs more details.
Because it doesn't cover local regions, USA Today doesn't include an entertainment section. There may be an occasional movie review, but there is nothing to help you figure out where to see the movie. What is in USA today is world and national news (Section A), money and finance (Section B) and sports (section C.)
When I attended San Diego State University, I would sometimes wait by the newsstands for a bus. A copy of USA today from the machine cost fifty-cents. A copy of the San Diego Union Tribune or the Los Angeles Times cost less (except for the Sunday editions.) They were far larger papers, had more detailed stories and more local interest. Plus, they had funny pages!
I sometimes shredded USA today and put it in the bottom of my guinea pigs' cage, but I found that my white guinea pig got a blue belly. Sheets of USA Today worked well in the bottom of a bird-cage though. I did find that I often ended up with more ink on my hands than with other papers. I would not have minded this if I liked the paper better. I did manage to solve the ink problem by sticking it in my convection oven (weighted down at the corners with shot glasses) on a setting of 150 degrees farenheit for about 5 to 10 minutes while I showered. This baking seemed to resolve that issue.
I don't dislike USA Today, I just think there is better news available in most areas. It might be ideal for those in more rural settings that don't have their own papers, but for people in cities, better resources are available.
Recommended:
No
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naphtalia
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Just cause you got the monkey off your back doesn't mean the_circus has left town.
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