Greetings, dear readers

This is my first editor’s note directed at readers. Let me ask you this: How do you get your information? Really think about this one. How do you stay informed? How often? From which sources? Do you feel you are “well-informed”?

I myself take a shotgun approach. On any given day, my Top 5 places to get information are:

* WashingtonPost.com,
* NYTimes.com,
* AZcentral.com,
* The barristas at Unlimited Coffee in Phx,
* Bartender Mike at Casey Moore’s in Tempe.

Wow. Quite a diverse list. PHOENIX magazine is not on there because I help edit it, so I know the stories before they hit the rack. [Consequently, my Pizza Hut delivery guy was dropped because we moved close enough to carry out.]

Now, please note that my list will be a bit different from yours because I am a news junkie. This is my job. Even so, I struggle to read every little snippet every single day. But that’s my goal. It depends on how many lattes I’ve had from my overworked espresso machine.

Anyways, back to the list. Let’s break it down. What do you see? Well, for starters, three (3) of my news sources are on the Web and free. Two (2) are humans. None of them are from print media, which is what I studied at ASU many moons ago.

All of them can be checked at my convenience. None of them sit in a stack on my doorstep. So it’s news when I want it, it’s not burdensome, it’s free, it’s environmentally friendly, and of course, there is some human interaction, too. Beer and coffee are part of any reporter’s Survival Kit.

What else do you notice? Well, none of them cover Arizona. Sounds crazy, doesn’t it?

Well, this is where The Zonie Report makes its mark. Sorry, Bartender Mike, but you’ve been bumped. Congratulations, ZonieReport.com. You’re now in my Top 5.