When Katrina crushed New Orleans, its circulation was down to zero from 245,000. It lost 20 per cent of its staff, mostly due to personal reasons. Still, the Times-Picayune, the 171-year-old daily based in the Big Easy, is an odd success story in an industry reeling from bad news.
“We’re a relatively healthy business again in contrast to most newspapers in the country right now. It’s counterintuitive. I figured within two or three months the adrenaline would be gone and we’d collapse from exhaustion. I am amazed to say this has not happened,” says editor Terry Baquet.
Reason?
The paper’s enthusiastic embrace of the internet. Before the hurricane struck, the paper’s site, received 80,000 page views a day. In the first week after the storm, it received 32 million and became a hub for people sharing information, looking for loved ones and seeking solace.
Read the full story here: New Orleans’s must-read newspaper
