April 27, 2007...7:55 am
Corporate polluter: The Hartford Courant
I felt sick this morning to find that the oh-so-sanctimonious Hartford Courant had seen fit to seal a square of plastic across a portion of its front page in order to attach yet another annoying ad, this time for a Berlin “active adult” development. Much as I hate front page ads like this — it sure proves how desperate newspapers are to make money — today’s is a new low. In recent months, they’ve put Post-It note ads, which are at least removeable, though still ridiculous.
But by sealing a piece of plastic onto the front page, they have effectively turned a paper that can be recycled safely and efficiently into one that harms the environment. It is short-sighted and the move of an awful corporate citizen to attach permanently these plastic squares to a newspaper. It’s an environmental travesty, a screw-you to every subscriber who cares about our planet.
I hope that every municipality and green group in Connecticut will speak out against this change before it becomes accepted practice.
Perhaps the Courant’s publisher might want to read its editorials sometimes. Live up to your own ideals, Courant, or the shut the hell up.
13 Comments
April 27, 2007 at 10:04 pm
The Hartford Fishwrap, “Because it doesn’t matter what you know”.
Oh Mighty Blogger Sensei the Fishwrap has always been and always will be. It is the oldest continuously published nonsense in America.
A Poem by Joe Visconti for Whdad
In the Morning I gather my paper and Tea
Then open the pages to see what’s to see
The Cover has stickers in colors that gleem
I thought that the Fishwrap protected the green
The Journalist spinning was driving me mad
The facts were all hiding behind all the fad
The hypocrite surrogate defenders of truth
Were killing the planet for stickers with goo
My Fishwrap was hiding within plastic bags
To protect it from rain and the snow that we had
Now plastic and stickers are choking the soil
The Fishwrap is counting on not being foiled
The stories will bleed and the headlines will read
That the Bloggers are fighting against all the greed
The Courant was sold and so was it’s soul
The day that it traded the green for the gold
April 27, 2007 at 11:10 pm
You guys are silly. Tear the thing off and throw it away, then recycle the paper.
Not much to write about, eh dad?
April 28, 2007 at 7:18 am
You can’t tear off the plastic they put on Friday’s paper! It was something new and, from an environmental point of view, awful.
April 28, 2007 at 8:20 am
Pete — Eat your Wheaties and try again. You can tear a piece of plastic off a newspaper page.
April 28, 2007 at 1:14 pm
OK, yes, of course you can tear it off the page. But my point is — as whdad pointed out — we shouldn’t have to rip off a chunk of the front page in order to recycle the newspaper. That is not the right thing to do for the paper’s customers or the environment.
April 28, 2007 at 4:30 pm
Newspapers are in a tough competitive environment. Unfortunately, a result of that is these ads on page one.
If that’s the biggest problem you guys face in the course of your day, I’d pay to have your problems.
I happen to like the Courant. I think it has its problems, but I’ve seen lots of other newspapers in other places I’ve lived and traveled. We’ve got it pretty good.
Take a look at the New Haven Register. Afterward, you’ll be quite happy with the Courant.
That said, I agree with some of the criticism I’ve seen on this blog. Too much of the local reporting is thin. But you know what, it’s still better than the weekly or TV.
Become an active consumer. Contact the reporter if you’ve got a complaint. They put their email addresses on the stories. If you don’t feel satisfied, contact the reporter’s boss.
This all, of course, assumes you guys aren’t just looking for an excuse to complain.
April 29, 2007 at 2:47 pm
A poem for Fred
An Active Consumer had made a complaint
His paper was thin and had nothing to say
He emailed a writer and talked with their boss
But lo and behold his complaint they did toss
A neighbor suggested he try somewhere else
To New Haven he hurried to buy off the shelf
Their paper was so so and covered the news
But not of his hometown which gave him the blues
This Active Consumer complained once again
But this time to neighbors he would not offend
Our paper they said had to print what it see’s
But since it needs money it print’s for a fee
We followed the Fishwrap in business and life
But now it can’t help us in all of our strife
Oh Fishwrap Consumers we all have been slow
For Most read The Wall Street to get in the know
May 1, 2007 at 8:52 am
We shouldn’t have to tear plastic off of a paper. With a newspaper, one expects more news than ads. It hasn’t been this way for a long time though.
I read it online because most of what they print isn’t worth the trees anyway.
May 1, 2007 at 5:03 pm
What Kerri expects isn’t reality. Newspapers have long strived for a 60% to 40% mix of ads to news columns. The ads, after all, pay the bills.
As for your final comment, I respectfully disagree.
By the way, I was able to remove the offending plastic piece quite easily. It was a small square that I easily tore out and tossed. The rest of the paper was recycled.
It’s amazing you guys were so offended by that itty bitty piece of plastic. Like I said, I’ll happily swap my problems for yours.
May 1, 2007 at 5:12 pm
We can make it reality. It’s easy. Read their trash online for free, and stop giving financial support to a product that is undesirable.
Are you on the Tribune payroll or something? You’re doing an awful lot of work defending environmental pollution.
May 1, 2007 at 5:23 pm
No, in my day job I dump PCBs in school yards.
At night I hunt spotted owls.
For vacation I set fires in old growth redwood forests.
Why do you read it if it’s such trash? Read the West Hartford News or West Hartford Life, then you’ll be happy and have nothing to complain about. You can then redirect all that negative energy to something that actually matters, like making sure people don’t put grass clippings out for yard waste collection.
May 1, 2007 at 8:18 pm
Oh come on, tell us, What do you do on the weekend Fred?
May 1, 2007 at 8:19 pm
On weekends, I prepare my newspapers and Wheaties boxes for recycling pickup.
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