What is the big deal about The Times-Picayune cutting back to three editions a week? People have been predicting the death of newspapers for years. However, The Times-Picayune is a special, award-winning daily newspaper.
David Carr of the New York Times may have expressed it best:
Many newspapers have gone away, including The Rocky Mountain News in Denver and The Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Others have been diminished to the point where it wouldn’t matter if they did go away. So why the freak-out over the Times-Pic?
Because it is a story about a town that loved its newspaper — its market penetration is among the highest in the land — but just not enough to keep it.
City leaders in New Orleans are fighting back, but I doubt that they can prevent the loss.
To offset this news, there was some positive news last week elsewhere in the country. Warren Buffett, the Berkshire Hathaway CEO, announced his purchase of 63 daily and weekly newspapers from Media General. In an letter to his editors and publishers, Buffett wrote:
I believe newspapers that intensively cover their communities will have a good future. It’s your job to make your paper indispensable to anyone who cares about what is going on in your city or town.
Which example will Gannett follow?