Cape Leeuwin area, SW WA  © PJ Croft 2016

Packed and ready to go at 1140am. Thank goodness the ash cloud from Mt Rinjani has disappeared from the radar, literally.

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There’s a lot of talk at the moment about newspapers struggling to survive. Personally, I used to buy The Australian and The West Australian every day, and they were a good read.

But The Australian — what are they doing?! I can’t buy it any more. There is such an anti Labor, anti union, anti renewable energy, climate change denial bias that I just roll my eyes. They never miss an angle to bash unions, or to present crackpot ideas as facts in the climate change debate. I can’t understand why they do this, except that big boss Rupert has his ultra conservative views and journalists have to toe the line. Since journalism jobs are disappearing, I’m sure they want to keep the boss happy so as to keep their jobs.

There is some good journalism in The Australian, but I can’t stomach the rest of the paper.

The West used to be a good newspaper, but since Mr Stokes said he liked the look of the Sunday Times, that trash Sunday paper that’s never been worth wrapping the rubbish in, that’s the way it’s moved. Now we’re getting page 3 girly pics, just like the red tops in London. There are some good journos there and they get a bit of space, but it’s mostly ads and classifieds. I buy it a few times a week, but it’s hardly worth it.

That leaves on-line, internet, and thank goodness for The Guardian Australian edition. I rate it as excellent. Top rate journalism, a good mix of stories, good columnists and opinion writers, great pictures. I’m very, very happy reading it every day.

What’s brought this rant on is that they are struggling to attract enough advertising to survive. They’ve made an appeal today, for donations and regular contributions.

I’m already a subscriber. I pay a yearly subscription, around $100 I think, but today I thought I’d make an extra monthly contribution. Unfortunately, they know who I am (I’m logged in) and they wouldn’t accept any more. That’s good of them.

My other source of news is The Economist, and thinking recently that $11 a week for the paper magazine was a bit too much, I subscribed the the on-line edition. It’s fantastic! I like it better than the paper version. The first quarter is $40, and it’s $93 a quarter after that, averaging $6.77 per week. Plus there are daily email newsletters.

I also have access to past issues and they download to the tablet, so I can read off line. Brilliant. I also find the type is a bit bigger on screen, so it’s easier to read. Turning pages is a tap of the thumb, and the pages stay up rather than falling down. I’m a big fan. Needless to say (or is it needless?) the writing is excellent. They have a sharp, punchy style and it suits me.

So that’s two I subscribe to, and there’s the UK edition of the Guardian, and the US quality papers, the NY Times and the Washington Post if I have any other free time. Not usually.

Why is The Guardian struggling? Because all the advertising, it’s said, is being sucked up by Google and Facebook. Those two are predicted to have 90% of all the world’s advertising by 2020.

I don’t know the answer, nobody does.

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Busselton farm.  © PJ Croft 2016

I would subscribe to other magazines too, such as Australian Personal Computer, PC and Tech Authority and Wheels, but they only have “apps” for iPad. Sorry guys, Windows has 75% of the market, or whatever. I’ll subscribe when you cater for me.

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Gotta go!