The New Orleans newspaper war fascinates me
The New Orleans newspaper war continues to fascinate me.
For those of you who don't know the backstory (which is... probably most of you), back in 2012, the owners of Times-Picayune, the New Orleans' daily newspaper, decided to cut its publishing frequency to three times a week. It was the first time a major American city lost a daily newspaper. So it was kind of a big deal.
In response, Louisiana multimillionaire John Georges bought the Advocate, the newspaper that serves Baton Rouge (the state capital). The Advocate was already making moves to take advantage of the vacuum by releasing a New Orleans edition - and Georges used a lot of money and personal influence to prop up that new edition, creating the New Orleans Advocate.
Photo by Gerald Herbert/AP
Times-Picayune went from having no competition for as long as most people have been alive to having a very aggressive determined competitor that raided talent, pitched better deals to its clients and generally muscled in on the territory it has long since held for granted.
In response, Times-Pycaune has been releasing a newsstand-only tabloid on the days when its regular issues don't come out. And their owners launched a tabloid in Baton Rouge, the Advocate's home turf.
Even in this day and age, there are cities where two daily newspapers fight for dominance. Chicago has Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times. Detroit has Detroit Free Press and Detroit News. Los Angeles has Los Angeles Times and Los Angeles Daily News. But the difference here is that those newspapers have been around for decades - if not centuries. They occupy distinct cultural niches in their respective cities - as I mentioned before, the big reason Chicago Sun-Times is still being published is because, last time it was on the brink of bankruptcy, a group of businessmen teamed up to save it simply because they couldn't stand the thought of having the Tribune as Chicago's sole newspaper.
Times-Pycaune has plenty of history. And New Orleans Advocate... doesn't really. Reports suggest that readers haven't exactly flocked to it. Even with reduced frequency, Times-Pycaune has larger circulation. With advertisers, things have been mixed - some switched, some didn't, some advertise in both and others stopped advertising in newspapers altogether. Interestingly, New Orleans Advocate seems to be becoming more of a newspaper of choice for the city's business elite. I suspect of a lot of it has to do with Georges' connections and reputation.
Another interesting development is that the newspaper war seems to be benefiting other news sources who aren't directly completing with the dailies - be it the Gambit, the city's alternative newspaper, or Uptown Messenger and Mid-City Messenger, the community news websites. All of them has since increase in readership since Times-Pycaune cut its print frequency - and New Orleans Advocate's expansion didn't seem to have affected that any.
I am very curious to see where this goes. Partially, I admit, for selfish reasons - I remain convinced that cutting daily newspapers' frequencies is not a good idea, and it would be nice to see it proven right. But I'm also curious to see just how far this newspaper war will go - and how far the New Orleans Advocate will be able to get. This is not exactly the best economic climate for newspapers, and while Georges clearly wants his newspapers to succeed, I'm sure he would want them to be profitable. Will it be able to last another year? Two years? Five?
Can a new daily newspaper survive in this day and age? Can a new upstart supplant an institution in this day and age? Or can it at least become a strong, viable alternative the way Chicago Sun-Times became a strong, viable alternative to Chicago Tribune?
It would be very interesting to find out.
What I would really like to do is get my hands on the physical copy of New Orleans Advocate. Thanks to phoenix_anew and jaklocke, I have been able to read an issue of Times-Pycaune. I had to say that I liked the newspaper. It was a bit thin, compared to either Tribune or Sun-Times, but it had some great reporting, and I like the design. It would be interesting to compare it to the New Orleans Advocate.
(And I do mean the actual paper - reading a physical copy page by page is a completely different experience from reading parts of it online. I may be biased, but I think reading the physical copy is a better indicator of how a newspaper works)
If I ever make it down to New Orleans and New Orleans Advocate is still around, I'm definitely buying copies of both.
For those of you who don't know the backstory (which is... probably most of you), back in 2012, the owners of Times-Picayune, the New Orleans' daily newspaper, decided to cut its publishing frequency to three times a week. It was the first time a major American city lost a daily newspaper. So it was kind of a big deal.
In response, Louisiana multimillionaire John Georges bought the Advocate, the newspaper that serves Baton Rouge (the state capital). The Advocate was already making moves to take advantage of the vacuum by releasing a New Orleans edition - and Georges used a lot of money and personal influence to prop up that new edition, creating the New Orleans Advocate.
Photo by Gerald Herbert/AP
Times-Picayune went from having no competition for as long as most people have been alive to having a very aggressive determined competitor that raided talent, pitched better deals to its clients and generally muscled in on the territory it has long since held for granted.
In response, Times-Pycaune has been releasing a newsstand-only tabloid on the days when its regular issues don't come out. And their owners launched a tabloid in Baton Rouge, the Advocate's home turf.
Even in this day and age, there are cities where two daily newspapers fight for dominance. Chicago has Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times. Detroit has Detroit Free Press and Detroit News. Los Angeles has Los Angeles Times and Los Angeles Daily News. But the difference here is that those newspapers have been around for decades - if not centuries. They occupy distinct cultural niches in their respective cities - as I mentioned before, the big reason Chicago Sun-Times is still being published is because, last time it was on the brink of bankruptcy, a group of businessmen teamed up to save it simply because they couldn't stand the thought of having the Tribune as Chicago's sole newspaper.
Times-Pycaune has plenty of history. And New Orleans Advocate... doesn't really. Reports suggest that readers haven't exactly flocked to it. Even with reduced frequency, Times-Pycaune has larger circulation. With advertisers, things have been mixed - some switched, some didn't, some advertise in both and others stopped advertising in newspapers altogether. Interestingly, New Orleans Advocate seems to be becoming more of a newspaper of choice for the city's business elite. I suspect of a lot of it has to do with Georges' connections and reputation.
Another interesting development is that the newspaper war seems to be benefiting other news sources who aren't directly completing with the dailies - be it the Gambit, the city's alternative newspaper, or Uptown Messenger and Mid-City Messenger, the community news websites. All of them has since increase in readership since Times-Pycaune cut its print frequency - and New Orleans Advocate's expansion didn't seem to have affected that any.
I am very curious to see where this goes. Partially, I admit, for selfish reasons - I remain convinced that cutting daily newspapers' frequencies is not a good idea, and it would be nice to see it proven right. But I'm also curious to see just how far this newspaper war will go - and how far the New Orleans Advocate will be able to get. This is not exactly the best economic climate for newspapers, and while Georges clearly wants his newspapers to succeed, I'm sure he would want them to be profitable. Will it be able to last another year? Two years? Five?
Can a new daily newspaper survive in this day and age? Can a new upstart supplant an institution in this day and age? Or can it at least become a strong, viable alternative the way Chicago Sun-Times became a strong, viable alternative to Chicago Tribune?
It would be very interesting to find out.
What I would really like to do is get my hands on the physical copy of New Orleans Advocate. Thanks to phoenix_anew and jaklocke, I have been able to read an issue of Times-Pycaune. I had to say that I liked the newspaper. It was a bit thin, compared to either Tribune or Sun-Times, but it had some great reporting, and I like the design. It would be interesting to compare it to the New Orleans Advocate.
(And I do mean the actual paper - reading a physical copy page by page is a completely different experience from reading parts of it online. I may be biased, but I think reading the physical copy is a better indicator of how a newspaper works)
If I ever make it down to New Orleans and New Orleans Advocate is still around, I'm definitely buying copies of both.