Not Fit for Fishwrap

Today we venture into the topic of the newspaper. Love / hate / disdain.

In our domestic arrangement, we have the paper delivered Fri / Sat / Sun. M pays b/c I won't.
I deem the paper to be an extremely biased, history of local / world events. Usually, the items are a day old and sometimes older.
At best the writer quotes from a source. However, the tendency is for the piece to have an angle or spin ( to catch the readers attention).
Our T.O. Star is liberally biased.Its called a national newspaper, as compared to papers from say Vancouver / Montreal / Moncton. No wonder they hate T.O. in those places. I would.
OK. Fri and Sun there is a cryptic by Caroline Andrews, a T.O. based professor. I fold and separate each cryptic and photocopy the cryptic and spend the next few days solving the riddles of CA. I do this religiously. Much to the delight and chagrin of M. Why delight, b/c she can count on me to go out of my way to buy the paper Fri or Sun.  chagrin, b/c she then gets to listen to me wail and gnash ( wail, as in the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem - she says it is very close to the same sound )

In the movie the " Shipping News " by Lasse Hallstrom, the heroine, Wavy Prowse ( Julianne Moore ) refers to the local paper as " not fit for fishwrap " which is of course, where the hero Quoyle ( Kevin Spacey )just won a job. BTW, what a role for Cate Blanchett ( she gets to be a lady of low morale fibre and she doesn't eat cereal either ).
I also view the TV new shows in the same vein, maybe a little more current but not by much.
My personal chosen method is to scan the headlines and pictures - read a line or two and then listen to our CBC ( Canadian Broadcasting Corp ). Programs such as " As It Happens " interview the main characters in the story be they politicians or builders or complainants.
Is there spin ? You bet. But the involvees spin not the reporters. Is it confusing, you bet. esp. politicians, what a load of cod whallop ( thats from the Shipping News , aussi). 
The difference, I ferret out the truth or something resembling the truth - not the reporter.
OK. you had to bear w/ me through this rant ( or did you skim and scan ) - well M hears it regularly.
One example, when Poland was fighting for independence back in 80 something ( 1980, I mean ) the CBC on " As It Happens " got Lech Walesa on the phone, talk about a viewpoint.
well ,they do this all the time. Thats news.

I'm sitting in the convenience ( thats an euphemism ) typing away. So, I'm not a total luddite b/c this would not have been possible even 20 yrs ago.
My left leg is asleep.  gotta go

P.S - I could barely stand