Flashback: 2012

THE YEAR: 2012

News that The Times-Picayune in New Orleans was shrinking its newsroom and cutting back publication sent shock waves through a state that treasures its traditions and clings fiercely to its historical institutions. Many looked to The Advocate, in Baton Rouge, wondering whether it, too, would shrink or possibly attempt to fill the gap in New Orleans. At the time, as quoted in this June 2012 cover story, Advocate publisher David Manship shrugged off the latter. But the following month, The Advocate announced it would expand coverage to New Orleans beginning that fall. The following spring, local businessman John Georges purchased The Advocate. In 2019, he would expand even further by buying The Times-Picayune. In the cover story, Business Report takes a look at the state of journalism in south Louisiana shortly after the corporate owners of New Orleans’ 175-year-old daily announced they were scaling back publication to three days a week and gutting the paper’s newsroom staff.

“HOW MUCH MONEY Advance Publications will save by laying off so much staff and doing away with The Times-Picayune on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday—which are less attractive days to advertise than Wednesday, Friday and Sunday—is anyone’s guess. But percentagewise the savings should be substantial. ‘They’ll save a ton of money by not having to print,’ Manship predicts. ‘Paper and ink are about one-third of a newspaper’s expenditures. People account for the rest.’ … Whatever promise New Orleans might hold for The Advocate, which has certainly seen its share of financial hardships in recent years, the paper has barely a presence in the Crescent City—a paltry 100 or so readers a day.”

—From the June 26, 2012, issue of Business Report

LOOK WHO’S BACK: Market forces are driving jobs back to America, and Louisiana sits in a sweet spot to attract them.

ACCESS DENIED: Business owners could soon be at odds with planners over a new policy to regulate traffic flow through Baton Rouge.

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