The Times-Picayune announced today that it will undergo a massive overhaul in its
operations. The organization, which has printed a daily newspaper since 1837,
will begin circulating print editions on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays only.
The bulk of the Picayune's talents will focus on NOLA.com and online
operations, making New Orleans the largest city in the United States without a
daily newspaper.
The newspaper industry is in decline all throughout the world, fighting to keep up with changing times. Major newspapers throughout the country are reducing staff and circulation, and some older newspapers like Denver's Rocky Mountain News and Seattle's Post-Intelligencer have closed altogether.
Online news has dwarfed the importance of
traditional newspapers. The immediacy of the internet - which delivers
up-to-the-second news to us on our computers, phones, and even our cars - has
made the newspaper seem obsolete as a means of keeping up with what's going on
in the world. As newspaper companies continue to lose money, talented writers
and editors now see internet and TV as far safer career prospects.
And as newspapers are now almost all owned
by parent companies that care not for quality journalism but merely for their
bottom line, costs are cut at every corner; newspaper staffs are being reduced
and resources are being drained. This is important to everybody whether we
realize it or not. News is difficult and expensive to gather. Good reporters
spend years nurturing sources they can trust for accurate information about
politics, crime, education, and countless other important issues. Newspapers
foster this kind of environment far better than web sites driven by profit can.
Life and technology continue to speed up,
and the bottom line for news web sites won't have the time and patience for
costly reporting. Easier to publish fluff pieces and slideshows and user
opinion polls that will generate more clicks and more advertising revenue than
stories that are clearly more important (The Picayune's
exceptional series
on Louisiana's prison system being an obvious recent
example.) but which don't have the same audience. So how can newspapers
work as a business model? That's a question without an answer; some papers like
the New York Times are charging customers to read stories
online, others like the Picayune are laying off staff and
cutting their publication by more than half.
The Times-Picayune's finest
hour was the days and weeks following Katrina, when a skeleton staff managed to
produce and distribute the paper largely without electricity as much of New
Orleans was devastated and underwater. Those brave men and women who chose to
risk their lives by staying were able to keep those in and outside of the city
informed as to what was going on. The paper was awarded Pulitzer Prizes that
year for breaking news and for public service; this is a testament to the
importance of a local newspaper.
Change is inevitable, and the strong find a
way to survive, but still, this is a very sad day today for those of us in New
Orleans and Louisiana who have read and loved a great newspaper for many years.
by John W. Redmann, Attorney
and Matt Stokes, Co-Author and Online Editor at Redmann Law
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