July 20, 2025

By Arthur H. Gunther III

thecolumnrule.com

As newspapers fold – disappear because of declining readership and advertising in favor of Internet sound bites, word bites and artificial intelligence – let us recall simpler times and distinct habits.

First, newspapers literally were folded – a tabloid just once, tucked under the arm as you carried your lunch box or handbag. Broadsheets – standard-size papers – were folded twice after you looked at the full page, or better yet because of bulk – rolled up for arm tucking or squished into the back pocket.

Sitting at the table or the diner counter, you might wet your fingers to separate the pages, and as with all human movement, the individual had a particular way. My mother, who smoked at least one pack of unfiltered Camels a day and read several papers, could do the maneuver without missing a puff.

I recall a lady in Hillcrest, N.Y., who would place the local Rockland Journal-News on the kitchen table and open the broadsheet one page at a time. We newspaper stiffs liked those readers because they usually read from cover to cover, ads included, our bread and butter.

For that woman, reading the paper seemed to be a habit not to be missed.

Others waited until after work, after dinner, to hit the cozy armchair with a 100-watt bulb in the floor lamp for an hour or two of reading the news, sports stories, maybe the comics and of course looking at the photographs.

In the end, the daily sheet pored over, it became wrapping for food scraps, delivered to the bin.

Today, perusing the Internet surely has its habits for the viewer as well, but I still can’t get through daily times without touching newsprint.

The writer is a retired newspaperman.

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