Austin American-Statesman

 

6

84

Jennifer A.

Austin, TX

I give the Statesman one star for John Kelso, and for John Kelso only!

The price of subscription is insane and while I understand these here Internets are making paper publications almost obsolete, it's still too freaking expensive!

Another note: We did a vacation hold, then a permanent hold. Every.single.day they delivered our paper. After NINE phone calls, they finally stopped, but that took two months. Yeah for customer service, huh?

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Elite '08

64

145

Jessica S.

Austin, TX

Dear AAS,
There is a reason I don't subscribe to you everyday.

For one, you are at work and easy to come by, so I don't need you to come to my house everyday.  Second, I don't really read you anyway. I'm sorry if this comes as a shock to you, but I don't.  (But now I've started checking you out a bit more now that I think some of your pages are helpful in Wednesday night trivia.)

I do enjoy your Life and Arts section. Okay, really just that one page that has the crossword, Jumble and sudoku (every other day).

But, I need to say this, I purposely don't want you to come to my house.You're outside my HEB sometimes. You're at the bookstore. I still don't want you around.

What annoys me most is when you show up unexpected. When you drop in for a free visit.  I don't care! Don't send your "hey, try us out; you'll love us" papers to my house. They are unwelcome and a waste.

I hope you don't take this personally. I mean, it's just not working out, these unplanned visits. Even though they're free, I'm still not going to start subscribing.

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Elite '08

575

99

Colby B.

New York, NY

Just in case you think you can't hate pop up ads any more or in any new and creative ways, cruise on over to statesman.com They take annoying to a whole new level.

On the other hand, they are using them to cover up some shitty content from their paper, so, maybe they're on to something.

Further, that hack named Kirk Bohls writes for them. I'd actually pay them if everytime he wrote something, an electronic ad for a homebuilder plopped down over it.

Also, during the GSD&M layoffs, they blogged about them. With the title, "What do you think about the GSD&M layoffs?" Well, gee. I think they're fucking great!

What with the across the board decline in newspaper circulation, you'd think people who work in a "growth" industry like newspapers would be a little more caring when it comes to discussing layoffs.

However, being fair I'm giving them an extra star because one of my favorite Yelpers works there, and I wouldn't want her to have to kill me.

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8

57

Jesse M.

Austin, TX

Watch out for the subscription fees if you get the print ediiton!!  The AAS will routinely push a year on you for something like $240 - if you're that much of a sucker, then you'll enjoy the news content.  There are reduced subscription rates for around $150-160 and you get the same lame content 7 days a week.  Internet is the way to go.

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Elite '08

59

277

Cody R.

Austin, TX

Austin Statesman is a newspaper? I had no idea...... I thought it was a website. Ok, I'm not that nieve, but I don't think I've ever read through the actual newspaper...... I read all my A.A.S. on the internet.

I think that should be their new bumper sticker campain "I get all my AAS on the internet". Isn't is sad when you make yourself laugh? Anyway, If they were to do that they would get  4 stars.

This review is completly based on their website, which for the most part is fine. Except that I always have to "login" to read an article (which gets annoying)..... and they focus WAY too much on sports.

They have an awesome Real Estate and Job section, which is top notch.

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12

11

Bob R.

Austin, TX

The couple of stars belong to the couple of stars: John Kelso and some occasional sports writing. Other than that, it's good for the birdcage floor. Some time back, the Statesman in some loopy delusion, decided it needed a slogan like the New York Times' "All the News That's Fit to Print." Kelso suggested "Yesterday's News Tomorrow." And so it goes.

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Elite '08

115

428

Larry M.

Austin, TX

They endorsed George Bush in the last election.

How does a town and county KNOWN for liberal leanings, KNOWN for being the most sophisticated city in Texas, KNOWN for it's huge community of highly educated folks, KNOWN for being a BLUE county...how does this happen?

Woefully out of touch with the people, it seems. And Bob Woodward was just in town to challenge the seduction of being in charge of both publishing and editorial....

Three stars for the architecture, food and fashion critics, all of whom I've met (name dropper alert!) and dig.

And I DO get my most up to date info on the real estate market here, so have to give props, and the Sunday issue isn't completely depressing.

There is no reason why our fair city can't have an incredible city paper.

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Elite '08

326

438

Michelle C.

Austin, TX

Austin so deserves to have a good daily newspaper, and it so doesn't.  The AAS' cookie-cutter, mass-media presentation just doesn't do it for me.  And, as if that weren't bad enough, the politics of the editorial staff (or, at least, the ones who make the political endorsement decisions) are decidedly right-leaning - not fair when Austin is the last stand for left-leaning Texans!  I get it for the classified section and to see what's on sale, and get my news elsewhere.

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69

257

Jackson R.

Austin, TX

We joke and call this the "Mistakesman" rather than the "Statesman" because there are often so many grammatical and factual errors to be found.

For example, they once had a high school football game listed as being played at the Alamodome in HOUSTON.  What editor missed that one?  

I give them three stars anyway for the great John Kelso, the Capitol 10K, and the fantastic part of the Hike and Bike trail they keep up.  They do a great job supporting community events.  

Unfortunately, the Statesman fails to be the first rate newspaper that would be so good for this city.  That's not uncommon in today's world, however.  This paper is run by Cox newspapers, who also publishes the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the Rocky Mountain Telegram among others.  Another corporation trying to make everything everywhere the same.

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