UPDATE: About one-third of The Times-Picayune's staff is being laid off today; read what the paper is reporting here.
Even as a coalition of major advertisers signs on to the grass-roots effort to keep a daily newspaper in New Orleans, staff members of The Times-Picayune begin learning Tuesday what the future holds for them with the venerable publication.
Citing sources, Gambit is reporting that employees have begun meeting with the paper’s newsroom brass — Editor Jim Amoss, City Editor Gordon Russell, Online Editor Lynn Cunningham, Features Editor Mark Lorando, Sports Editor Doug Tatum, and possibly others — to find out if they will have a job with the paper in the future and, if not, what their severance packages might be.
When news of parent company Advance Publications Inc.’s plan to cut back the paper’s distribution to Wednesday, Friday and Sunday only, slash the staff and shift its focus to digital news gathering broke in late May, a groundswell of opposition in the community was galvanized. On Monday, a group formed to lobby for keeping the T-P daily — The Times-Picayune Citizens’ Group — announced that nearly a dozen major newspaper advertisers including Ray Brandt Automotive Group, Latter & Blum and Lee Michaels Fine Jewelry had joined the campaign.
But the rally doesn’t appear to be swaying Advance Publications. Incoming Publisher Ricky Mathews has said the changes are in the long-term interests of the paper and its parent company. When the changes go into effect this fall, New Orleans will become the largest U.S. city without a daily newspaper.
Read more here.
JUNE 17 If anyone ever wonders why Saints fans hate Atlanta with a capital H, here's a good indication. Radio "professionals" at an Atlanta station created an entire segment around making fun of former Saints player Steve Gleason, who is now paralyzed by ALS. Listen, nobody's ever accused DJs of being rocket scientists. But how could someone think it is amusing to pretend to ask a man with a degenerative, fatal disease if he will be alive next week? The DJs have been fired, and are now whining about how gutless their former bosses are. Wow.
JUNE 18 Here's the latest from the Advocate on the fatal hit-and-run accident allegedly involving the president of the Livingston Parish School Board. He's accused by police of hitting a 21-year-old man on a highway early Sunday and driving away. The man died at a hospital later. On Monday, police seized the president's truck and towed it away. But he's available for board meetings: apparently a $500 bond is sufficient for this type of thing over in St. Helena Parish.
JUNE 18 Former broadcast journalist Griffin Scott has posted this plea on his blog for financial assistance from his readers. Scott, who says he was fired after he wrote something fairly innocuous (for Facebook) on his wall, is suing a media giant for his job back. He's framed himself as David going after a bloated media giant, and he's probably not far off.
JUNE 18 Here's a fairly absurd column posted on DIG Magazine about the completely absurd practice of naming killer storms. Tornadoes don't have names. Blizzards don't have names. But hurricanes do, and there's a big process to bestow them, Jacques Cormery writes. He's right about the crazy assemblage of names -- this year, there's everything from Tanya to Humberto -- and his idea that we don't waste good names on killer storms is a good one.
JUNE 17 Political columnist John Maginnis has some advice for Louisiana Republicans: grow up. After the schism that occurred in this past session - fiscal hawks teaming up with Democrats to spank the Republican "majority" and hand Gov. Jindal his, er, aspirations for continued solon control -- they need to figure out how to get along with each other, Maginnis writes.
JUNE 17 Here's the Picayune's obit story for Dorothy 'Miss Dot' Domilise, the lady who made poboys at the uptown restaurant that bears her name. Miss Dot moved to New Orleans during World War II, where she met and married her husband Sam. When she passed away Friday she was 90, and had spent more than 60 of those years working at the restaurant on Annunciation Street.
JUNE 17 This editorial in the Advocate speaks in favor of the consent decrees that have federal judges overseeing police operations and the sheriff's parish prison in New Orleans. Mayor Landrieu and Sheriff Gusman can't get along, so outside forces, like the Inspector General and the judges, are needed to make sure things run right, the editorial opines.
JUNE 18 Here's a post from Manny Schewitz on Forward Progressives that is good for a chuckle. Manny had an epiphany back in November, and is sharing it with us today: he believes that Fox "News" is killing the GOP by pandering to right wing nuts. Now, don't get it twisted: Manny's not broke up about it. He says he enjoys watching the downward spiral with a shot of whiskey and "a schadenfreude chaser."
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