The Times-Picayune
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The Times-Picayune | |
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 The September 2, 2005 front page of The Times-Picayune |
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| Type | Daily newspaper |
| Format | Broadsheet |
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| Owner | Advance Publications |
| Publisher | Ashton Phelps Jr. |
| Editor | Jim Amoss |
| Founded | January 25, 1837 |
| Headquarters | 3800 Howard Avenue New Orleans, LA 70125 United States |
| ISSN | 1055-3053 |
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| Website: nola.com | |
The Times-Picayune is a daily newspaper published in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA.
Established as The Picayune in 1837, the paper's initial price was one picayune—a Spanish coin equivalent to 6¼¢ (1/16 $US).[1] It became The Times-Picayune after merging with its rival paper, the New Orleans Times, in 1914. S.I. Newhouse bought the Times-Picayune and the other remaining New Orleans daily, the States-Item, in 1962, and merged the papers in 1980. The merged paper was called The Times-Picayune/The States-Item from 1980 to 1986.[2] Specific community editions of the newspaper are also circulated and retain the Picayune name (e.g., Gretna Picayune for nearby Gretna). The paper is owned by Advance Publications, owned by the Newhouse family.
Through the years writers like William Faulkner and O. Henry have worked for the paper. It was awarded a 1997 Pulitzer Prize for a series analyzing the threatened global fish supply; that same year staff cartoonist Walt Handelsman was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning. For its coverage of Hurricane Katrina, the paper received the 2005 George Polk Award for Metropolitan Reporting,[3] as well as a pair of 2006 Pulitzer Prizes.
The paper's editorial stance is moderate to conservative, depending on the subject. It generally endorses Republicans in state and federal elections.[citation needed] It endorsed George W. Bush for president in 2000, but endorsed no presidential candidate in 2004. In gubernatorial contests it endorsed Mike Foster and later Bobby Jindal. In the mayoral race of 2006, the Times-Picayune endorsed right-leaning Democrat Ron Forman in the primary election and Lieutenant Governor Mitch Landrieu in the general election, usually referred to as a runoff.
[edit] Hurricane Katrina
As Hurricane Katrina approached on Sunday, August 28, dozens of the newspaper's staffers who opted not to evacuate rode out the storm in the center of the building housing the newspaper, sleeping in sleeping bags and on air mattresses. Holed up in a small, sweltering back room called the "Hurricane Bunker," the newspaper staffers and staffers from affiliated web site NOLA.com posted continual updates on the internet up until the time the building was evacuated on August 30. With the presses out of commission in the rising storm, newspaper and web staffers produced a "newspaper" in electronic format.
On NOLA.com, meanwhile, tens of thousands of evacuated New Orleans and Gulf Coast residents began using the site's forums and blogs, posting pleas for help, offering aid, and directing rescuers. NOLA's nurturing of so-called citizen journalism on a massive scale was hailed by many journalism experts as a watershed, while a number of agencies credited the site with leading to life-saving rescues and reunions of scattered victims in the days and months after the storm.
After deciding to evacuate Tuesday, August 30, because of rising floodwaters and possible security threats, the newspaper and web staff set up operations in Baton Rouge, on the Louisiana State University campus. A small team of reporters and photographers volunteered to stay behind in New Orleans to report from the inside on the city's struggle, looting, and desperation. They armed themselves for security and worked out of a private residence.
The August 30, August 31, and September 1, 2005 editions were not printed, but were available as PDFs online, as was the paper's breaking news weblog. A weblog entry for August 30 written by Bruce Nolan gave a summary of the disaster:
- "Hurricane Katrina struck metropolitan New Orleans on Monday with a staggering blow, far surpassing Hurricane Betsy, the landmark disaster of an earlier generation. The storm flooded huge swaths of the city, as well as Slidell on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain, in a process that appeared to be spreading even as night fell."[4]
After three days of online-only publication, the paper began printing again.
The paper published a strongly-worded open letter to President George W. Bush in its September 4 edition, criticizing him for the federal government's response to Hurricane Katrina and calling for the firing of FEMA chief Michael D. Brown. Brown tendered his resignation eight days later.
In a January 14, 2006 address to the American Bar Association's Communications Lawyers Forum, Times-Picayune editor Jim Amoss commented on perhaps the greatest challenge that the staff faced then, and continued to face as the future of New Orleans is contemplated:
- "For us, Katrina is and will be a defining moment of our lives, a story we'll be telling till the day we die. Being a part of the plot is both riveting and deeply unsettling. We don't yet know the end of this story ... It's the story of our lives, and we must both live and chronicle it."[5]
The paper shared the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for public service with The Sun Herald in similarly affected Biloxi, Mississippi. In addition, the paper's staff was awarded a Pulitzer for breaking news reporting, and former Times-Picayune editorial cartoonist Mike Luckovich won the Pulitzer for his cartoons in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, some of which were also featured in New Orleans Magazine.
The post-Katrina experience affected the paper's staff. On August 8, 2006, staff photographer John McCusker was arrested and hospitalized after he led police on a high-speed chase and then used his vehicle as a weapon apparently hoping that they would kill him.[6] McCusker was released from the hospital by mid-August, saying he could not recall the incident, which was apparently sparked by the failure to receive an insurance settlement for his damaged house. He will still face criminal charges. The episode led to the establishment of a support fund for McCusker and for other Times-Picayune staff, which collected some $200,000 in just a few days.[7] In October, columnist Chris Rose admitted to seeking treatment for clinical depression after a year of "crying jags" and other emotionally isolating behavior.[8]
[edit] References
- ^ McLeary, Paul (2005-09-12), “The Times-Picayune: How They Did It.”, Columbia Journalism Review, <http://www.cjr.org/behind_the_news/the_timespicayune_how_they_did.php>. Retrieved on 27 May 2008
- ^ Times-Picayune (search listing). Library of Congress Online Catalog. Retrieved on 2006-05-03.
- ^ George Polk Awards for Journalism press release. Long Island University. Retrieved on November 15, 2006.
- ^ Nolan, Bruce. "The overview: 'Look, look man: It’s gone'", The Times-Picayune, 2005-08-31. Retrieved on 2006-05-03.
- ^ Deutsch, Linda. "New Orleans 'Times-Picayune' Trying to Report, Survive", Editor & Publisher, 2006-01-16. Retrieved on 2006-05-03.
- ^ Daryl Lang. "Suicidal New Orleans Times-Picayune Photographer Arrested", Photo District News, August 9, 2006. Retrieved on 2006-10-22.
- ^ Daryl Lang. "Times-Picayune Photographer John McCusker Out Of Hospital", Photo District News, August 17, 2006. Retrieved on 2006-10-22.
- ^ "Hell and Back", New Orleans Times-Picayune, October 22, 2006. Retrieved on 2006-10-22.
