The problem with cut stock listings

Hal Morris, writing on his GrumpyEditor.com blog, makes an excellent argument as to why newspapers should stop cutting the stock listings from their business sections.

He wrote, “Readers’ cries to retain full daily stock tables, even in The Wall Street Journal, fall on deaf ears now.  Editors claim more people track stocks on the Internet.

“But Grumpy Editor, no novice at the computer, cites it’s much handier, and often quicker timewise, to follow — and compare — individual stocks and mutual funds, along with prices, via newspaper listings rather than going on the (not always convenient) Internet, seeking (not always known) stock symbols, then typing them in.

“Visiting the ‘water closet’ without a handy hard-copy version, for example, can be rather cumbersome for some to see how the previous day’s closing IBM stock price compares with Microsoft.

“It’s a lot easier, too, with the print tally in front of a reader sipping coffee at the breakfast table.”

Read more here.