News Orleans to be largest city without daily newspaper, could your town be next?

The 175-year-old Times-Picayune is cutting its daily publication. Efforts and resources will now shift to be predominantly online and a three times weekly paper — printed Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. This news came as a shock not only to employees but also to citizens of the city.

Three-time Pulitzer Prize winner, The Picayune has been committed to serving the community and delivering uninhibited news for almost two centuries. The people of New Orleans, namely local businesses and those with big advertising budgets, answered the call to save The Picayune. While their efforts were valiant, editor Jim Amoss has chosen to go forward with the “painful transition.”

Two hundred employees were notified that they would be without jobs come Sept. 30 of this year. Other cities have cut from a daily newspaper, including the Ann Arbor, but New Orleans is now the largest U.S. city without a daily publication.

“The Times-Picayune, with a circulation of about 155,000 on Sundays and 134,000 weekdays, would be the largest paper in the U.S. to shift to non-daily publication,” according to Steve Myers at poynter.org.

There is a high readership of The Times-Picayune for many reasons:

• New Orleans has become a tight-knit town since the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina
• The Picayune has always been trusted
• 30% of the city is still not connected to the Internet, according to Scott Satchfield of WWLTV

Despite all of this, the changes are happening.

Share your thoughts: What do you think of the rationale and outcome of this decision? Would you be disappointed if your daily newspaper disappeared, or do you see it coming soon?

 

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