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| New Orleans Times-Picayune prints last daily edition amid shift to digital news | New Orleans Times-Picayune prints last daily edition amid shift to digital news |
| (about 1 month later) | |
| The decline of newspapers has been so regularly reported that it can be difficult to tell what counts as a benchmark, a sign that bad has gone to worse. | The decline of newspapers has been so regularly reported that it can be difficult to tell what counts as a benchmark, a sign that bad has gone to worse. |
| For lovers of good journalism, the end of the daily New Orleans Times-Picayune, which printed its last regular edition over the weekend, is unmistakably one. | For lovers of good journalism, the end of the daily New Orleans Times-Picayune, which printed its last regular edition over the weekend, is unmistakably one. |
| Six years after winning two Pulitzer Prizes for its all-in coverage of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the Times-Picayune will now print the news only three days a week, with the balance of its coverage appearing online and in a special "advance" Sunday edition to be distributed the night before. | Six years after winning two Pulitzer Prizes for its all-in coverage of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the Times-Picayune will now print the news only three days a week, with the balance of its coverage appearing online and in a special "advance" Sunday edition to be distributed the night before. |
| The change was announced in May. A note to readers was printed Sunday. "Our rhythms will change but our mission will not," it read. "We're here to stay." | The change was announced in May. A note to readers was printed Sunday. "Our rhythms will change but our mission will not," it read. "We're here to stay." |
| The masthead may live on, but dozens of journalists who helped build it have entered early retirement or are looking for the next job in an industry without many of them. More than 100,000 weekday readers, meanwhile, no longer have anything to learn from, argue over and spill their morning coffee on. | The masthead may live on, but dozens of journalists who helped build it have entered early retirement or are looking for the next job in an industry without many of them. More than 100,000 weekday readers, meanwhile, no longer have anything to learn from, argue over and spill their morning coffee on. |
| "The community is adjusting to a new reality. It's the first time in 175 years there was no regular Times-Picayune at the curb, on the lawns, on the front steps," said Bruce Nolan, a 41-year veteran of the paper who was laid off and later declined an offer to return. "The city is going to have to get used to that. … Some of the city is determined, at least in the short run, that it will not get used to that, that it doesn't want to get used to that." | "The community is adjusting to a new reality. It's the first time in 175 years there was no regular Times-Picayune at the curb, on the lawns, on the front steps," said Bruce Nolan, a 41-year veteran of the paper who was laid off and later declined an offer to return. "The city is going to have to get used to that. … Some of the city is determined, at least in the short run, that it will not get used to that, that it doesn't want to get used to that." |
| Nolan said the mood among journalists and staff over the weekend, as the final daily edition was put to bed, had swung from heartbreak to joy and back. | Nolan said the mood among journalists and staff over the weekend, as the final daily edition was put to bed, had swung from heartbreak to joy and back. |
| "The watershed was Friday afternoon, when I walked out of the office. We had two parties, two fiercely jubilant events, Friday and Saturday," Nolan said. "We had two marvelous reunions, we hugged each other and vowed that we'd remain a tribe for always. | "The watershed was Friday afternoon, when I walked out of the office. We had two parties, two fiercely jubilant events, Friday and Saturday," Nolan said. "We had two marvelous reunions, we hugged each other and vowed that we'd remain a tribe for always. |
| "I'm sort of heartsick for the community and heartsick for the people who were laid off or who had to take jobs that may or may not have been optional for them. Many people are faced with reinventing themselves now. Some people are having difficulty finding new positions. All of those people are in a very difficult transition period." | "I'm sort of heartsick for the community and heartsick for the people who were laid off or who had to take jobs that may or may not have been optional for them. Many people are faced with reinventing themselves now. Some people are having difficulty finding new positions. All of those people are in a very difficult transition period." |
| A paper for New Orleans | A paper for New Orleans |
| Hundreds of people attended the reunion events, traveling from Honolulu, Seattle, Washington, New York, Key West, Boston and elsewhere. | Hundreds of people attended the reunion events, traveling from Honolulu, Seattle, Washington, New York, Key West, Boston and elsewhere. |
| Rebecca Theim, a former reporter and the founder of an organization to help laid off Times-Picayune employees, flew in from her current home in Las Vegas. Everybody came back, she said, because the city had left its stamp on them all – and they on each other. | Rebecca Theim, a former reporter and the founder of an organization to help laid off Times-Picayune employees, flew in from her current home in Las Vegas. Everybody came back, she said, because the city had left its stamp on them all – and they on each other. |
| "New Orleans itself is just an amazing, tragic, wonderful, unforgettable American city, that's almost not American in its uniqueness," she said Monday. The same was true, she said, for the paper. "There's absolutely no other place I have been, nor that my friends have been, where there continues to be such a remarkable bond." | "New Orleans itself is just an amazing, tragic, wonderful, unforgettable American city, that's almost not American in its uniqueness," she said Monday. The same was true, she said, for the paper. "There's absolutely no other place I have been, nor that my friends have been, where there continues to be such a remarkable bond." |
| The novelist Barry Gifford, author of Wild at Heart and many tales of New Orleans life whose characters are known to pick up the Times-Picayune, said the paper had a sharp sense of its own home turf. | The novelist Barry Gifford, author of Wild at Heart and many tales of New Orleans life whose characters are known to pick up the Times-Picayune, said the paper had a sharp sense of its own home turf. |
| "The emphasis on the community, and the local news, from the police blotter to the housing projects to the obits section, was so much more detailed than in other places, and often interestingly written, because of the richness of the New Orleans scene," Gifford said. "New Orleans, before Katrina, was a place where people didn't leave there. People who were born there died there. If there was ever a real notion of a home place for a life, it was New Orleans." | "The emphasis on the community, and the local news, from the police blotter to the housing projects to the obits section, was so much more detailed than in other places, and often interestingly written, because of the richness of the New Orleans scene," Gifford said. "New Orleans, before Katrina, was a place where people didn't leave there. People who were born there died there. If there was ever a real notion of a home place for a life, it was New Orleans." |
| Nolan said the paper succeeded by telling the story of the city. | Nolan said the paper succeeded by telling the story of the city. |
| "The Times-Picayune in the last 20 years or so has been very good at holding up a mirror to New Orleans, with stories every day that reflected New Orleans back to itself," Nolan said. "It wasn't a cookie-cutter newspaper reprinting the same plain-vanilla news in a cookie-cutter town. It was a rich, pungent town with a paper that was rich and pungent as well. People who did that work loved it, and loved each other." | "The Times-Picayune in the last 20 years or so has been very good at holding up a mirror to New Orleans, with stories every day that reflected New Orleans back to itself," Nolan said. "It wasn't a cookie-cutter newspaper reprinting the same plain-vanilla news in a cookie-cutter town. It was a rich, pungent town with a paper that was rich and pungent as well. People who did that work loved it, and loved each other." |
| Katrina | Katrina |
| The crumbling of the Times-Picayune – if not its final demise – coincides with its hometown's resurrection. The disaster that almost killed the city threatened the paper, too. But the refusal of employees to abandon their stations when Katrina hit, and their perseverance in the face of disaster, produced one of the publication's finest hours. In 2006 the paper won a Pulitzer Prize for breaking news reporting and shared the prize for public service with the Sun Herald in nearby Biloxi, Mississippi. | The crumbling of the Times-Picayune – if not its final demise – coincides with its hometown's resurrection. The disaster that almost killed the city threatened the paper, too. But the refusal of employees to abandon their stations when Katrina hit, and their perseverance in the face of disaster, produced one of the publication's finest hours. In 2006 the paper won a Pulitzer Prize for breaking news reporting and shared the prize for public service with the Sun Herald in nearby Biloxi, Mississippi. |
| "It was a disaster so big that it shredded our disaster management plan, as it did with other institution's disaster plans," said Nolan. "Our disaster plan did not anticipate having to evacuate the building because it was flooded. A great many brave people put themselves in the middle of a terrible situation, saw terrible things, and kept functioning. A great many smart people invented a way to get the news out. Hour by hour, day by day, they improvised and stuck to it and sent the signals out, and the idea in those days was to get through the next 15 minutes, to get through the next hour, the next half day, the next day. | "It was a disaster so big that it shredded our disaster management plan, as it did with other institution's disaster plans," said Nolan. "Our disaster plan did not anticipate having to evacuate the building because it was flooded. A great many brave people put themselves in the middle of a terrible situation, saw terrible things, and kept functioning. A great many smart people invented a way to get the news out. Hour by hour, day by day, they improvised and stuck to it and sent the signals out, and the idea in those days was to get through the next 15 minutes, to get through the next hour, the next half day, the next day. |
| "There was never really a point when we said said it was over. We transitioned from an acute emergency situation to something a little bit more stable, to reoccupying our newsroom. And then we just transitioned to the story. And we just stayed in that mode for five years. | "There was never really a point when we said said it was over. We transitioned from an acute emergency situation to something a little bit more stable, to reoccupying our newsroom. And then we just transitioned to the story. And we just stayed in that mode for five years. |
| "At some point you could hear the applause building nationally. It was: 'Gee, I'm glad they like it, who knew?' | "At some point you could hear the applause building nationally. It was: 'Gee, I'm glad they like it, who knew?' |
| "We were just working. The world began to notice, and we didn't think we were the story." | "We were just working. The world began to notice, and we didn't think we were the story." |
| Nolan said that half or more of the team that put together the Katrina coverage had been laid off. "Some of the most inventive and critical people were laid off," he said. "The two managing editors who were brilliant at devising solutions were laid off." | Nolan said that half or more of the team that put together the Katrina coverage had been laid off. "Some of the most inventive and critical people were laid off," he said. "The two managing editors who were brilliant at devising solutions were laid off." |
| Nolan found out about the loss of his job after an audio recording of him criticizing management at a private employee meeting in May was leaked to the New York Times. Eventually the paper reconsidered and offered him a new job, but he didn't bite. | Nolan found out about the loss of his job after an audio recording of him criticizing management at a private employee meeting in May was leaked to the New York Times. Eventually the paper reconsidered and offered him a new job, but he didn't bite. |
| "I'm 64.8 years old," said Nolan. "It was very difficult getting laid off, it hurt. But I'm financially secure, and during the summer, I invested a lot of emotional energy in putting the Times-Picayune behind me, emotionally. And their offer to come back was quite late, it was really very recent. And by that time I was ready to go, my wife was ready for me to go. | "I'm 64.8 years old," said Nolan. "It was very difficult getting laid off, it hurt. But I'm financially secure, and during the summer, I invested a lot of emotional energy in putting the Times-Picayune behind me, emotionally. And their offer to come back was quite late, it was really very recent. And by that time I was ready to go, my wife was ready for me to go. |
| "I was ready to reinvent myself." | "I was ready to reinvent myself." |
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