08 June 2012

The Demise of the Times-Picayune, continued

Ariella Cohen wrote a piece on americancity.org Wednesday about the changes at the T-P and she takes a rather curious view. Please read it. She posits that the Lens will fill the void. 


I like the Lens and I like the reporting they have been doing. BUT, the Lens does not publish obits nor does it publish a culinary section, which raises another problem with theLens: it doesn't publish--it posts. This means that New Orleans, with the lowest level of Internet Access of any major city, would not benefit from the Lens. One might access the Web at the library, but with only an hour time slot available, would one really think of checking out the Lens?

The T-P is about to lose the millions of dollars it gets paid by local governments by  being the Paper of Notice, the daily entity that publishes the notices required by law. I am sure Advance, being advanced, figured that loss in their scheme, but I cannot see how.
I shall miss reading the paper in the morning and doing the crossword in the afternoon, but what will I do for seafood boils? What will I cover the table with, if not the T-P? And what will charities do without paper drives? And what of the people who make a living delivering the paper? 

This is a foul deed done by Advance and the repercussions will be wide and long lasting.