The singular benefits that come from not just watching but also reading

Considering I’ve been writing this column for more than 26 years, you might think I’d have noticed certain connotations in its name sooner, but what can I say? I’m a slow learner.

That the column is called “Letter to Readers,” seems direct and clear enough. It is an attempt for me, as a representative of the paper, to connect what we do in a personal way with our audience. But I’ve been thinking a lot lately about some cultural issues in news consumption that made me realize the singular significance in that title.

This is a letter to readers. People who read.

And it occurs to me that, whether one is talking about news consumption, literature or any other form of information or entertainment, the process of reading has peculiar distinctions from watching or listening. It also occurs to me that the distinction often goes unappreciated, or is simply overwhelmed, by the more direct experience of watching something happen or listening to someone telling about something that happened. Many people, for instance, are just as happy to see the movie made from a great book as to read the book. Many people are just as happy to watch a Ken Burns documentary on the American Revolution as to read a comprehensive account by Ken Atkinson. Many people are just as happy to watch a two-minute video news report about an event as to read a 30-column-inch report about the event.

And there is a clear advantage to the watching and listening. You can hear the tones and emphasis of speakers, see their gestures, examine their facial expressions and interpret it all for yourself immediately, whereas when reading, you must engage your imagination more in order to absorb the situation. When it is a news event you are reading about, you also have to consider how much trust to give the source who is describing the event. That question of trust also extends to material you may hear or see, too, of course, but it has an added dimension when you are engaging with words on a page or video screen.

But, all this considered, there is also a unique benefit to reading that you cannot get from listening to or watching a program. I find it in the way our imaginations have to assimilate the content we read. I see it in the way writers have to select their words and employ techniques of imagery and tone in order to accurately describe an event or situation. The entire process has a richness that cannot be duplicated and a connection that is purely personal.

This is not to say that any one of the diverse ways in which we collect information or enjoy entertainment is better than all the others, nor certainly to say that one must read information to comprehend it or fully engage with it. But it is to say that reading - especially reading material of some depth - has a peculiar appeal that ought not be overlooked in this age of electronic gratification.

I once heard Bruce Springsteen describe his career as one long conversation with the world that he alludes to in his song “Letter To You.” “'Neath a crown of mongrel trees,” he sings, “I pulled that bothersome thread / Got down on my knees / Grabbed my pen and bowed my head / Tried to summon all that my heart finds true / And send it in my letter to you.”

It’s a beautiful song, full of pathos and rich tones. But you have to agree that when you read the lyrics, rather than just hear them sung, you experience them on a different level. You understand them in a different way.

It’s like that when you read a newspaper or magazine, too. All the other forms of information delivery and entertainment have their value, but take a moment occasionally to recognize and appreciate the unique experiences you get when you are a reader.

• Jim Slusher, jslusher@dailyherald.com, is managing editor for opinion at the Daily Herald. Follow him on Facebook at www.facebook.com/jim.slusher1 and on X at @JimSlusher. His book “To Nudge The World: Conversations, community and the role of the local newspaper” is a 2025 Chicago Writers Association Book of the Year and is available at eckhartzpress.com.