In 20122013, one of the largest U.S. newspaper chains, Advance Publications, determined its main product was no longer newspapers but news, and switched from daily print publication ofThe Times-Picayune of New Orleans to three days a week, while upgrading its presence online (Digital First). More than two hundred employees, including half the newsroom, were laid off in one of the poorest U.S. cities with among the lowest literacy rates and percentages of households with Internet access. The decision raised a furor in New Orleans. Beginning with an historical overview ofThe Times-Picayune, from its 1837 founding through the present, The Times-Picayune in a Changing Media World: The Transformation of an American Newspaperdescribes the crucial role the dailies played in the 1960 school desegregation crisis, as well as the impact of the switch on print coverage of hard news in the context of media developments, and provides a detailed analysis of specific print editions ofThe Times-Picayune and its digital formats conducted before and after the switch. This study of the evolution ofThe Times-Picayune is instructive for all concerned with what the transformation might portend for the news profession and for the traditional role of the press in the digital age.

This book is a study of the 2012-2013 transition of The Times-Picayune of New Orleans from a daily newspaper to a three-day-a-week publication with emphasis on its online presence ("Digital First"). It is instructive for all concerned with what the transformation might signify for the news profession and the traditional role of the press in the digital age.

Introduction,C.W. AndersonChapter 1:The Times-Picayune: A Historical View,Alfred Lawrence LorenzChapter 2: Inescapable Reality: Pragmatism and the Press in the New Orleans School Desegregation Crisis of 1960-1961,Frank D. DurhamChapter 3:The (Some) Times-Picayune: Digital First October 2012-October 2013,S.L. AlexanderChapter 4: More but Softer: A Content Analysis of News Before and After the Digital Decision atThe Times-Picayune 2012,Vicki Mayer