New York Daily News 4+

More often than not, when I select an article on my app, a message appears telling me I’ve reached my monthly limit. Nowhere does it say how many selections I get; and sometimes I haven’t been on the app for a week or more. Nor does it tell me how many I have remaining for that month. So, I go to other news apps. Love the News, but what’s up with that?

I am a native New Yorker, which is quite rare these days. Unfortunately, the quality of our local newspaper has fallen drastically. The stories are often written poorly and are barely fact-checked. I get a good laugh from reading the paper because there are so many spelling and factual errors. It seems that nobody with any real talent would willingly work for this once-great tabloid, which is now just a shadow of its former self. The other local paper is even worse.

Under the current owner, the paper saves money by using stay-at-home reporters. These reporters are often recent graduates of low-quality schools and lack any real track record of professional writing.

I read the paper on my miniPad, and I prefer to hold it horizontally. However, with the latest app update, I can only read the paper in the orientation that they decide, which is frustrating. Unfortunately, it is impossible to contact the people who make the app to voice my concerns.

NYDN’s app and webpage needs lots of work. It’s hard to understand why it’s so poorly done. The same article gets repeated 3,4, 5 times as you scroll through the top stories. Articles get carried for days on end with not enough fresh content. Photos are not framed properly as you scroll though top stories. The sports coverage has gone down the toilet. There very little original content or opinion. If anything important is happening locally, I look to other sources for up-to-date news coverage. That shouldn’t be.

I want this app to be good. Long ago I purchased the paper every day on my way to work, but I’m ready to accept a good app. I want excellent local coverage of the news, investigative stories, great columnists like much-missed Pete Hammil and Mike Lupica. I want daily, in-depth coverage of my favorite local sport teams. I’m not certain how much longer I will keep checking the NYDN online, hoping for improvement, before I give up.