Internet Killed the Printed Media Star

On May 24th, things changed. There was an announcement that The Times-Picayune, New Orleans' daily paper since 1837, would discontinue its daily service - reducing to 3 publications per week - in favor of focusing more attention toward the newspaper's website, nola.com. Now, naturally people in NOLA are upset, but there's definitely more to the story than might at first meet the eye. When they called it the Big Easy, they weren't referring to this city's ability to embrace change.

Now, before I delve into a full-on editorial, when it comes to highly sensitive issues like this one, I try to visit both sides and really know the heart of each. That stated, I don't have a concrete opinion formed on this one... at least not one that will lead to a hysterical rant. It's just not that simple...

See, I could make the argument that it's entirely unfair of the current owners of the paper to sell out to a company that wants to reduce the paper like this.

One of the reasons is that New Orleans is a relatively large city with a disproportionately large population without internet access... about a third, actually. There are many reasons for that - infrastructure, poverty, etc. - but the fact remains that many people here rely on a printed edition of the newspaper for their daily scoop.

A second reason that this could be seen as wholly unfair is that The Times-Picayune is actually profitable. That's right, a dinosaur such as a newspaper still makes money in this city that relies on its printed news. They just didn't make enough money to please the shareholders and fatten the higher-ups' pockets a bit more. So, it's a little disappointing that it's being cut back, not because it's in financial trouble, but because the powers-that-be want more. I think the word I'm looking for here is greed.

A third point that can be made is that the timing on this is all wrong. The paper continues to make money, yet we're going to lay off 200+ people while the economy still falters (regardless of what the talking heads say... just ask the people to your left & your right how they're doing). Not to mention, here we are, right here in the midst of the Saints scandal (a.k.a. Bounty Gate), many die-hard fans waiting eagerly for football season 2012 to begin, just before a presidential election, nearing the end of the world as we know it... and the only major city in the United States that will not have a daily paper is... New Orleans, LA.

How we somehow manage to find our way into the public eye for all the wrong reasons at all the wrong times remains a mystery to me.

All of that aside, we could talk about how printed media is soon to be a thing of the past... replaced by the internet and podcasts and various other forms of "new" media... and that change is not necessarily a bad thing (e.g. cell phones instead of operator-connected rotary phones, wireless high-speed internet instead of dial-up, pudding cups instead of instant pudding you have to refrigerate overnight and then it still doesn't taste as good). I can't say that I'm from the camp of "Technology Is Bad, Mmk." Obviously, I am writing a blog post, hosted at my very own domain, on my laptop, connected to wifi, while using my smart phone and posting random things and commenting on Twitter and Facebook. Not only am I a beast at multi-tasking, but I am a product of the era I live in. And a willing one, at that.

So, really, for me, the issue is not that I'm anti-internet or anti-progress. It's a bit more complex. It's more of a cultural snafu that I'm opposed to... and one that may soon discover its precedent. As I referenced earlier, New Orleans is a city that's laid back like jazz and as easy to take in as beignets & café au lait on a Sunday morning. But lest anyone get the wrong impression, this is not a city of push-overs. The people here are fighters, they're proud, they're sure, they're absolutely united through the easiest of times and through the toughest. They don't bow down easily. Their traditions are sacred. The thing about New Orleans is that it's a city made of its people... not of buildings or attractions or monuments. It's a city whose heartbeat is inseparably tied to its culture and history... and a very rich one, at that.

When the city officials decided years ago that the historic streetcars of Carrollton Avenue, Canal Street, and St. Charles Avenue had outlived their usefulness and that the future of public transportation in the city would shift to buses, the people rallied. Sure enough, they pulled up those streetcar lines and increased the size of the fleet of city buses. But come down to the heart of New Orleans today, and what will you see? Those streetcar lines are back... and running better than ever. Turns out there was a place for them after all. As it turns out, the people were right.