Stepping outside of the newsroom here for a moment, I should answer a question I heard this morning, because it's a fairly common one.
Speaking to a reader who described herself as elderly with mobility problems, she asked: "Is there any way to get a newspaper without all the ads and circulars in it? Some days like on Wednesday and Sunday I can barely pick it up and bring it in the house, and then I have all that paper to get rid of."
Truly, I sympathize. But the reality is that all mass media -- print, online and broadcast -- make a large part of their revenues from advertising. Subscription rates are actually a surprisingly small percentage of many publishers' budgets (except in the cases of magazines such as Cook's Illustrated, which doesn't accept ads -- and subsequently charges much higher rates than most other publications). The Star can't offer a subscription without those ads.
And at the same time, all industry research I'm aware of is consistent: Advertising is actually a big reason many people get the paper. Seeing all the ads together in one place helps people plan their shopping and find the best deals.
Another, tangential question, while I'm on the subject: Why does my paper get different grocery store inserts than my friend's in another part of the city?
That's because The Star offers what's called "zoned" advertising, meaning that advertisers can choose to put their ads in all parts of the city, or they can target certain areas only. My sister lives in another part of the metro area, and the Sunday ads in her neighborhood are sometimes quite different from what I get at home.
