What a sad day for New Orleans. The 175 year old newspaper, now New Orleans' only daily newspaper, has decided to go to online reading and printing only three newspapers a week.
Today, some 200 employees were told that their last day will be September 30, not a coincidential number as writers end their copy with a -30-.
So many of these people are friends of mine, reporters and photographers that I worked with in the past 40 years. During the horrific days of Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath so many of them slept in their cars or boats and went without food to cover the stories. (Remember, there was no electricity, water, or food for weeks). Many of them had homes with water up to the attic. They won a Pulitzer Prize for their coverage of the events.
The paper was not losing money, it was quite profitable but the Newhouse Corporation from New Jersey chose this path. We are now the only major city in the United States without a daily newspaper come October 1.
What a shame.