Free introductory copies of the Baton Rouge Advocate's new New Orleans edition are seen next to copies of TheTimes-Picayune at Lakeside News in the New Orleans suburb of Metairie in September. The Baton Rouge newspaper started its own daily edition to try to fill the void left when TheTimes-Picayune scaled back its print edition to three days a week.
Credit Bevil Knappbevil for NPR
A year later, these friends are still gathering to talk over the paper, but it's not The Times-Picayune. From left: Sue Paraski, Sharon Morrow, Eric Hartman, Joe Mole.
Last year when New Orleans' main paper, The Times-Picayune, laid off dozens of newspaper employees and cut its circulation to three times a week, residents were shocked.
Sharron Morrow and her friends had bonded over the morning paper at a local coffee shop for the past 20 years.
"I've stopped my subscription, and I mourn the paper almost every day," she says.
A year later, these friends are still gathering to talk over the paper, but it's not The Times-Picayune. From left: Sue Paraski, Sharon Morrow, Eric Hartman, Joe Mole.
A year ago today, news leaked that The Times-Picayune would cease daily publication, cut staff and focus on its website, NOLA.com. The paper and ink edition now hits doorsteps and newsstands just three days a week: Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.
History and tradition play an outsized role in New Orleans. So perhaps it is no surprise that The Times-Picayune’s move has led to a modern-day version of a relic of media history: the newspaper war.
Federal attorneys have subpoenaed The Times-Picayune's parent company for information about 11 commenters on the newspaper's website, as part of an investigation of posts there by two federal prosecutors.
The newspaper reports that company attorneys have objected thus far to providing the information, asking the government to explain why it's wanted.
The publisher of Baton Rouge's daily newspaper says it is gearing up for a move into the New Orleans market.
Beginning Oct. 1, The Advocate plans to begin delivery of a new New Orleans edition of the paper. The move comes shortly after a decision by The Times-Picayune, which is owned by Advance Publications Inc., to convert the 175-year-old New Orleans daily to a 24-hour digital news operation with a print edition only on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays.
As the Times-Picayune cutbacks are looming, other media organizations are examining what comes next for news in New Orleans. Several ideas are in play.