So sad. The Times-Picaune is apparently disappearing as it currently exists, opting for mostly a Web presence and publishing a print edition just two or three times a week. Somebody who's been through that drill in Ann Arbor, Mich., offers advice on "What New Orleans Can Expect When Its Newspaper Goes Away":
The Ann Arbor News closed three years ago in July. Its successor, AnnArbor.com, publishes a print edition every few days, but for most news about our city, we have to go online. No offense to its staff, but AnnArbor.com is basically a constantly updated blog, which gives equal play to impaled cyclists and rabid skunks as it does to politics and crime.
To round out what we find there, many of us turn to Twitter, which has been a vital tool in providing the sense of community and communication that our newspaper used to create. We’re able to find information, but the disappearance of The Ann Arbor News is a void that for many of us will never be filled. The loss is even bigger for less Web-savvy residents like my mom, who complains that she and her friends now don’t hear someone has died until after the funeral.
Just one more signpost to this interesting new information age that's evolving. We seem to be arriving at point where a hybrid conglomeration of news professionals and amateur reporters will collaborate on getting out all the information. It will interesting to see if the aggregators and sorters develop in a way to create the sort of coummity that was perceived by everybody reading the same newspaper. We all need the crime and political news, and some of us want the rabid skunk stories, too.
The sad part is the disappearance of something I've always loved and have devoted my life to. But the more I see this digital process unfold, the more excited I am about the damn dazzling things to come.
