A political scientist's morning newspaper routine is pretty much akin to the pathetic spectacle of some absurdly over-medicated senior citizen dutifully downing his daily 50 from one of those calendar grid pillboxes. First the mandatory
New York Times and
Wall Street Journal enema, followed up by a refreshing chaser of
Slate or the like if you're the younger, hipper type. Then a brief sortie into one of the major academic "world roundup" databases such as
World News Connection or the like. Next, a sweet little speedball of regional interest headlines from whatever your area of specialization is, which for me would mean the
Times of India, the Calcutta
Telegraph, the
Deccan Herald, the cybersavvy
Indian Express, maybe the Muslim
Milli Gazette, and at last the one I really look forward to, the Chennai
Hindu. Then onto a brief but bracing encounter with the Pakistani dailies
Dawn and
News. Maybe a peek at the Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan or Nepali papers if something really big is happening there. Then finally, flapping my arms and gasping for air, a parting shot of our lovely university paper, so I'll be sure to know about the latest irrelevant fracas between our chancellor and the faculty senate leadership, and which frat parties got busted over the weekend.
And to get me nice and sedated before bedtime, I do skim the metro sections of our local paper--though I'm usually also reading FYM at the same time, so who knows which content gets the upper hand.