The New Orleans Times-Picayune Finally Publishes Print Editions, WWL-TV Managed to Stay on the Air

The Times-Picayune never missed an edition – true the first three days after the flooding were only Internet editions – but by the weekend they were back in the print business with some 50,000- 60,000 copies a day – a far cry from their normal 270,000 circulation but a startling achievement all the same considering their city was destroyed.

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And remember, at both organizations, journalists and other staff, many of whom had lost their own homes, many of whom could not locate family members who had also lost their homes, continued working their hearts out to inform their community, and the world, of how one of America’s great cities had been destroyed.

The Times-Picayune’s initial print run on the Friday – four days after the flood -- of 50,000 was gobbled up faster than food, and the press runs are being expanded. The newspaper, the largest in Louisiana, was not alone -- many newspapers in Mississippi that also were knocked out of action in their own plants were able to print with the help of other newspapers, some located out of state. The newspaper industry came together to help one another, and by doing so offered a great service to the general public.

The Times-Picayune, owned by Newhouse Corporation, found a new home at the much smaller Courier, owned by the New York Times Company, in Houma, Louisiana. The Courier offered the best facilities they could, including food. Other staff went to Louisiana State University (LSU) in Baton Rouge, where the Manship School of Mass Communication offered its phones and computers. Some reporters and photographers evacuated from the New Orleans building returned to the city to report the story.

In those first days the Times-Picayune concentrated on producing an Internet pdf newspaper. Before Katrina their Internet site got around six million page views a week. From the Sunday just before the storm hit until the Thursday afterwards the site received some 72 million page views and then on the Friday alone it had more than 30 million page views. Because it is part of the Newhouse chain, the Internet servers were located in New Jersey, well away from any technical difficulties in the Gulf Coast, and the site held.

With electricity still cut for most of its normal readers, almost all of the site’s visitors came from outside the newspaper’s normal print zone. People around the world were thirsting for news and they were following trends seen before in going to a local newspaper’s site whenever possible for their information. That doesn’t mean other media sites didn’t get huge traffic bumps too, but the preferred venue has yet again been proven to be a newspaper’s web site.

With their site averaging some 25 million visits daily the plan is to continue what they’re doing on the web plus print the newspaper

But with New Orleans destroyed and the mayor calling for a forced evacuation of all those left in the city, the future of the Times-Picayune is uncertain. No one knows now when/if the city can be habitable again. Newhouse has told staff they will be paid for September and October no matter whether they go to work, but nothing is clear after that. The Samuel I. Newhouse Foundation donated $1 million to the American Red Cross.

There’s a similar story for WWL-TV, owned by Belo, that remained on the air "live" without interruption due to advance arrangements made with the same Manship School of Mass Communication that also helped the Times-Picayune. Although WWL had to evacuate its own facilities in the New Orleans French Quarter it continued broadcasting using the LSU facilities as well as WWL's emergency broadcast facility at its transmitter site in Gretna, Louisiana.

The station has also been streaming video, peaking with more than 10.2 million page views, 562,000-plus unique users and 1.3 million total online sessions on Tuesday, August 30. That was more than 35 times the average number of daily page views and more than 22 times the average number of unique video users during the first two weeks of August.

Meanwhile, in Texas, where some 250,000 evacuees have gone, newspapers are doing their part to help them adjust, to finds missing loved ones, and to get jobs, temporary or otherwise. The Houston Chronicle, owned by Hearst, has started distributing a special eight-page newspaper, pegged as “News for Katrina Evacuees” to 25 shelters including the Astrodome. The newspaper has started a new classified category for temporary workers. Display advertising is up with major companies, especially oil companies, asking displaced employees to contact them.

The Chronicle, which recently announced layoffs because of a poor economy, may well benefit economically from Katrina’s aftermath. Many of the evacuees say they don’t want to return to Louisiana and that they want to stay in Texas, and that means increased classifieds from companies looking to be part of the community spirit by hiring the evacuees.

But it is not just big metropolitan newspapers getting in the act. In Tyler, located in East Texas, the Morning Telegraph has established a daily “Hurricane Job Central” column that features an evacuee’s specialties and skills, without charge.

In addition the newspaper has printed an evacuee’s guide to services and opportunities. Under such headings as “Do you need a place to stay” and “Do you have immediate health care needs” or even “Do you have pets that need boarding” the newspaper sets out to provide the very information evacuees desperately need to know.

And for those who want to help, the headings include, “Make a cash donation to …”, Drop off donations of food, clothing or other items at …” and the like.

And it brings up the little-known fact, incidentally, for evacuees and those who may pass through Tyler and have time on their hands, that it is home to the largest municipal rose garden in the US.

The New Orleans Times-Picayune Finally Publishes Print Editions After More Than 100 Million page views to its Online Site; WWL-TV Managed to Stay on the Air; While in Texas Newspapers Print Special Sections Distributed at Shelters To Help Evacuees Find Loved Ones and Jobs