Do you read the paper you work for?

Here's an interesting question posed by John Robinson and then Adam Tinworth. Why don't reporters read the paper they work for?

Obviously, every journalist is quick to read one part of the paper - the bit they wrote.

But once you've finished admiring your own byline, what about the rest of it? Other reporters' stories, comment pieces, the sports section, even the supplements?

Adam Tinworth writes:

Sadly, that's been the case in pretty much every big magazine I've worked on. News reporters are particularly notorious for never bothering to read the features, in my experience, leading to the occasional embarrassment when they run something in news that was published in a feature a month before…

It's worth pointing out, of course, that reading the rest of the paper isn't always possible for those who have fifty calls to make and five stories to file before lunch. One Fleet Street Sunday newspaper editor used to be famous for reading every word in the entire paper each week - which given the size of the paper's supplements, must have taken him most of each week.

But what about nowadays? Should reporters be making the effort to at least skim through the rest of their paper? It is largely a waste of time given other pressures? Or is the whole question redundant in the world of online anyway? Let us know what you think in the comments, by email and in the poll on the right.