Donna - I suspect that your definition of "in depth" and mine are probably different. When I look at transcripts of what seem to be longer stories on tv news, they are, to me, alarmingly short. I guess my definition of 'in depth' would be easier to find when compared in "column-inches", to use an old newspaper term.

Allen - Respectfully, which point are you referring to? I would like to think I disproved any misconceptions that I only read/see "liberal" news. It's 'entertainment news' that I just can't bear to watch anymore. Maybe it's because I grew up with what *I* consider to be more dignified news anchors - and now I have to put up with "What's in your pantry that may be poisoning you? We'll tell you at 11!" or any combination of scare-you-into-watching bumpers. ...and another thing, what if I'm going into my pantry at 9:30?

And on those occasions when I DO watch tv news (usually weekday mornings around 5:30am) they spend their money on style instead of substance. They'll send a reporter to stand in front of a building to report on a story. There's nobody to interview there. Heck, nobody's awake. Sometimes it'll be as bad as "this afternoon - something will happen here" or "yesterday there were people here". They design and build multimillion dollar studios (in Boston, Channel 7 was the first and worst at this) that try to make Mission Control in Houston look like a home-video setup. All style, no substance.

And don't get me started on the commercials. I don't know how the 6 o'clock news is these days, but the morning news is *all* car, furniture and jewelry ads.

Why don't I watch 'visual' news more often? Because there's so little NEWS there. Between the commercials, the chatter, the promos, etc, there's little room LEFT. When I *read* something, however, 100% of that time is reading - input. Far more efficient. ...to say nothing of the fact that I can skip EVERY Paris Hilton, Michael Jackson, supermodel or movie studio "news" and stick to stories that ARE news.

...and, yeah, I know it's the "NH" Union Leader, but that's a recent (to me) change and old habits die hard (I moved to NH in 1974). Since we have award-winning papers in other cities here in New Hampshire, I'll always think of them as "Manchester".