Yes, I'd say that's very much the point of the strip. The journalist is being incredibly intrusive in persuit of their own career. All the characters in this series are basically caractures, it's very much a product of it's time, but it still resonates today.
Edited to add an explaination as my initial comment wasn't helpful on it's own.
The saving on the knob alone would pay a reasonable chunk of a basic but useful printer. Use it for a few more things and you'll be in the black even ignoring the more fun things you might do. The time it takes to learn a CAD system can also be fun if you enjoy that sort of thing.