The Ledger

The Ledger is the only newspaper in Lakeland-​Winter Haven so you’re stuck if you want to read a daily paper. They have some excellent reporters & photographers. They do a decent job on their «do gooder» stories and have sponsored some excellent causes. They are doing better at featuring the east side of the district. They take up a lot of space for giant photos. Sometimes ads seem to make up more of the paper than the news. Business is hidden in the back of the sports section.
Sadly, they are biased in general due to decisions ‘at the top’. They lead «left» politically. They favor certain organizations and shun others. They make it a personal mission to put the local police and city commissioners in a bad light to stir up «news». They used to have a fabulous food critic regular piece-​long gone. They have a section called «Insider» where they give tidbits of new businesses in the area but they reflect few when there are many – someone isn’t thorough in their homework!
Their online Ledger is pitiful probably the worst online «read» I know. You pay for it if not a newspaper print subscriber. It’s so full of ads that shift the page or send you to another page in the middle of scrolling, it’s hard to stay on and read an article. The scroll bar fades in and out rendering it useless half the time. It is often not up to date nor complete compared with the newsprint version. Reading obituaries on line is ridiculously complicated. The program also times out frequently. Wondering if they have ANY happy online subscribers. Online deserves ZERO stars.