In the wake of Hurricane Katrina and the flooding that followed, the New Orleans Times-Picayune and NOLA.com did a wonderful job in updating the outside world about the conditions in their city, and have further kept going in bringing the city back together in the wake of the hurricane.  Unfortunately, this is a “what have you done for me lately?” world, and Katrina was 7 years ago.  With falling circulation rates, a falling New Orleans population, and rising costs, New Orleans will become the first major American city without a daily newspaper.  The New Orleans Times-Picayune will be cutting down to 3 print editions a week, according to the Times-Picayune’s parent company Advance Publications.

“For us, this isn’t about print versus digital, this is about creating a very successful multi-platform media company that addresses the ever-changing needs of our readers, our online users and our advertisers,” said Advance Publications’ president of local digital strategy, Randy Siegel.  “This change is not easy, but it’s essential for us to remain relevant.”

It’s not just New Orleans that is going to suffer.  Advance Publications owns several newspapers throughout that area of the South, and four of them are getting the axe.  New Orleans is joined by The Birmingham News, the Mobile Press-Register, and The Huntsville Times; all newspapers are in Alabama, and all are dropping to 3 printed papers a week as well.  The Mobile Press-Register dates back to 1813, and now it’s becoming an afterthought.

It was fun while it lasted, print media.

Tags: randy siegel, advance publications, new orleans, louisiana, times-picayune, new orleans times-picayune, new orleans to become first major american city without a daily newspaper, newspapers, daily newspaper ends in new orleans, times-picayune drops to 3 days a week, the death of newspapers

I’ve never had a problem eating food from a gas station.  Just two weeks ago, I ate a couple of hot dogs purchased from a gas station.  They were delicious.  That’s not the first time I’ve eaten gas station food, and I doubt it will be the last.  There’s nothing like a fun food novelty. […]

Commissioner Roger Goodell gathered 32 NFL owners for one big question.  One of the league’s most wanderlust-stricken franchises is looking to move again.  The Oakland-Los Angeles-Oakland Raiders, tired of gutting it out in a run-down stadium, were once again looking for greener pastures.  Only the Miami Dolphins refused to cooperate.  With a vote of 31-1, […]

In 2006, an injury to Dallas Cowboys starting quarterback Drew Bledsoe opened the door for an undrafted free agent by the name of Tony Romo to take the helm of America’s Team and lead the Dallas Cowboys to an early playoff exit.  Bledsoe went from starter to afterthought in a season.  Now, the circle continues […]

For 89 years, Oscars has never had a major mistake.  The last few Oscars might have had a few flubs, but at least they never got the most important category of the night wrong.  Well, that’s now changed, all thanks to OG Bonnie and Clyde legends Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway.  When Faye Dunaway called […]

Tom Brady has been wildly successful, if controversial.  He’s the first quarterback ever to win five Super Bowls and only the second player to do so after Charles Haley.  Unlike Haley, Brady won all his Super Bowls with the same team, the New England Patriots.  The only thing that seems to be able to stop […]

Ben Affleck, no matter what you might think of him, is a talented actor and director.  He’s got the goods, but he’s smart enough to know when he’s in over his head.  All along, since he took on the mantle of Batman, he’s had his eyes on writing, directing, and starring as the Caped Crusader. […]

In May, students for the for-profit American College of Education were running into some problems.  Their access to email accounts and course information was locked down by Google, who had disabled their accounts.  The reason why?  A fired IT worker for the American College of Education locked the school out of their Google cloud account. […]