I am an "other" - I actually get most of my news from Radio National in Australia. This provides a national and international news and commentary service am and pm, which I often catch on my long drives to and from work, and is of excellent quality.
I skim the terrible local paper, The Advertiser, at lunch, if I get a chance - for a bit of local news - and skim a national paper, The Australian ditto - this is of slightly better quality.
I used to check the NYT frequently, and still do from time to time, as well as The Guardian, Washington Post and Crikey Com - a satirical gadfly of a local, mainly political, news online service.
If I had to choose one, Radio National wins.
Boston Globe
Being that I grew up in New England, I'd have to go with the Boston Globe, because I like to stay in touch with the regional coverage. Living in New York now, I still read the Globe online first. If I have time the runners up are the New York Times, the Cape Cod Times, BBC, and the Boston Herald.
I LEAVE FRIDAY ON A FAMILY TRIP, SHOULD BE BACK TO ATTEND TO THREADS ON SATURDAY, JAN. 4.
I have to go with the Chicago Tribune as my first choice because of the need for local news. The Trib is an old line Republican and Roman Catholic newspaper. They make heroic efforts to be centrist in politics, but they'd rather go out of business than endorse a Democratic Presidential candidate. The editorial policy is pretty balanced as is the commentary page, except that their most conservative commentators are so far right as to be almost comic. The paper has been very outspoken in favor of reform in the RC church. I give them credit.
The Tribune has some very good writers in the international field. I especially like R. C. Longworth.
Sometimes the Tempo section just rings the bell for me with one good article after another on books, movies, and cultural happenings. Other times that section falls flat.
If the Trib could just break that deep gut conservatism that makes them endorse the most stupid, extreme right wing semi-fascist Republican over a level headed centrist Democrat, which they occasionally do, and if they didn't endorse things like Bush's money for religion (They can't help wanting government money for Catholic Charities), they could be a great newspaper.
I doubt that any newspaper can beat the Trib for exposes of corruption and stupidity in government. I speak here of investigative reporting. For example, they have been great at exposing the short comings of the courts in Illinois when it comes to imposing the death penalty.
In addition, I look at the NYT on the web every day. For coverage and opinion it can't be beat. The Washington Post and the Globe are good too.
