Newsdesigner.com | Times-Picayune Shutting Down?*

Times-Picayune Shutting Down?*

1:08 PM, September 1, 2005

This was posted on the NABJ forum:

Sent: Thursday, September 01, 2005 4:58 PM
To: nabjforum@yahoogroups.com; youngblackjournalist@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [NABJFORUM] Times Picayune

Just got off the phone with my dear friend at the Times Picayune. He just got word in a meeting that they will pay the workers through October and that they need to look elsewhere for work. The paper will cease for the unforeseeable future.

I worked there for six years and there are a lot damn good journalists at the paper.

Gregory Lee
Senior Assistant Sports Editor
The Boston Globe

Update: Perhaps should be skeptical about this. Doesn't really make much sense, thinking about it. I'm wondering (as are some others) if the NABJ folks are misreading the last line of today's Newhouse news release, which says: "During the months of September and October all Times-Picayune employees will receive regular paychecks, regardless of whether they perform work, The Times-Picayune announced to its work force today."

Update 2: After some more thought, I'm going to ramp up my skepticism way, way up here. This just doesn't fit with anything I know about the Times-Picayune and Newhouse (full disclosure: I get a Newhouse paycheck every week). I simply don't see them cutting and running at a juncture this crucial. Steve makes good points in his comment.

Comments

Heads up: After you hit "post" things may be slow and you may get an error. Most likely, your comment did post. Apologies. I'm looking for a fix.

Here's the thing . . . .

If this were KR or Gannett with a bottom line to look at, I can see where there would be a cold calculation to do this. But Newhouse is still a private company. Given the money that they've put into their papers in the last 10-15 years, I find it extremely hard to believe that they wouldn't work very hard to keep the T-P open for the non-monetary value it would engender.

I just don't think that's right.

I think that Greg or his source at the Times-Picayune may be misinterpreting this.

Posted by: Steve at September 1, 2005 8:30 PM

I agree with Steve and Mark: I don't buy it either. The paper's coverage this week has shown it to be an essential resource, and it seems a genuine act of kindness for the paper's employees may have been sadly misinterpreted.

Posted by: Matt at September 1, 2005 10:42 PM

I am also skeptical, up to a point. Any prudent publisher would have to look at the situation in New Orleans and wonder how many months it will be before it is possible to publish and distribute a printed newspaper.

Or, for that matter, how long it will be before the emptied (eventually), destroyed city will again hold residents who want a newspaper, or businesses to support it.

So whether Newhouse announced a suspension of the T-P or not, I'll bet there's a scenario plan for it.

Posted by: Jay Small at September 2, 2005 5:13 AM

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