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.

TPSI>TP>Flushed

If anyone recalls, the Times-Picayune evolved from 4 papers (actually, more than 4, but I don't wish to go back more than 80 years), and by 1950, those 4 had become 2, The States-Item (the liberal afternoon daily paper) and the Times-Picayune (the conservative morning daily and Sunday paper). Newhouse bought the T-P and the States-Item in 1962 but kept them as independent papers. Newhouse merged them in 1980 to become the Times-Picayune/States-Item, the famous "Tipsy". The nickname, I believe, caused them to streamline the name to the Times-Picayune. Farewell States-Item.

I am one of those who hold The T-P (toilet paper, in local parlance) in low esteem (Hell, Baton Rouge has a much better paper, The Advocate, and that is a backwater town if ever there was one) but I subscribe to it, and have for at least 30 years. The online version, nola.com, is dreadful, and I cannot imagine anyone paying for it. So this is a very bad development for the city.

The T-P is a rag, but, 4 times a year, a crew of reporters would tackle a story, do an in depth research on the subject then publish a 5 or 7 part story and win a Pulitzer. Will alternative media do that? Yes, the T-P was a monopoly and fully vested in the old-line elites and monied classes, but it published good reporters and great writers--need I mention James Gill?

I do not think the void will be so easily filled. The main problem with the demise of the T-P is that only 36% of New Orleans's population have home internet access, so alternative media will not reach many people.

There is also another problem: we need newspaper to eat crawfish! If that statement baffles you, google "crawfish boil".