The New Orleans Times-Picayune May Reduce Frequency of Publication -- NY Times

Those who were hired from the paper took significant pay cuts, if I remember correctly, and the entire venture has gone so well that, in addition to the best writers and editors jumping ship, there were 14 layoffs last year.

Makes this 2009 proclamation from Tony Dearing, the exec running the AA.com circus, all the more absurd (though I'm sure we'll see plenty of equally-delusional spin regarding today's announcements):

"The one thing I guarantee you, when this thing launches, and people look at it, they're not going to say, "Oh, it's just another newspaper website." I can assure you this is going to be different from anything you've ever seen, or can kind of conceptualize."

 

All the readership studies I have seen say sports coverage doesn't drive newspaper sales. Sports only serves as a compliment and an attempt to reach male purchasers of high-end products.

But get enough Caddie and Lexus dealers together and you might be able to get something together for a Monday that would be in the boxes or just thrown for free up and down the Gulf Coast, not just NOLA.

 

For places like Chicago or San Francisco, does the NYT do any kind of local print insert, or is it strictly online? As a nola.com comment pointed out, they're already printing an hour down the road in Houma. Lots of people wishing/speculating that the Advocate will try to enter the market.

 

How did the T-P employees learn about this plan? Via the NYT.

http://www.bestofneworleans.com/blogofneworleans/archives/2012/05/24/times-picayune-employees-in-shock-tonight-as-extent-of-newhouse-cuts-begins-to-emerge

 

Open your paper today. How many ads are in the sports section?

 

Twelve, including three full-pagers, in a 16-page section. That's not to say we won't follow suit down the line, being a Newhouse paper, too. But you can't make that broad a statement.

EDIT: Ten ads for tomorrow in a 20-pager, including two full pages and three half pages. Granted, it's a tabloid.

 

It's stunning to think that my paper in a town of about 8,000 will now be publishing more days per week (5) than the one in New Orleans.

Coincidentally, today was the day the company finally decided to put up a paywall. We've already had a comment on the story that says, "By By." (Yeah, our readers can't even mock us right).

 

To be fair, Ape, a town that size with such a small advertising base, you shouldn't be a daily.

 

Which is part of what's stunning. There are still several small dailies like us in Kansas, especially in this region. I don't know if that means we're all stubborn or all stupid. And (38 miles west of here) has especially been bending over backwards trying to preserve its daily status. They're still going 5 days, but they've dropped their Friday edition.

 

It's not like the Advocate is flush with cash to throw at new ventures. They've had some (modest) cuts too. Having said that, it wouldn't be the worst idea. If Benson can own the Saints and the Hornets, the Manships can own the Picayune and the Advocate...

Edit to add: Lo and behold, David Manship issues a statement addressing this: http://theadvocate.com/home/2919525-125/david-manship-statement-on-the

 

David Simon weighs in ...

http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/mediawire/175128/david-simon-end-of-daily-publication-for-times-picayune-grievous-news/

 

Very sorry for all those losing their jobs and what this bodes for the rest of the industry.