EPT![[image loading]](http://www.nolanoir.com/Gerard%20Dupris%20Images/Times%20Picayune.gif)
Recently, the media company that owns the Times Picayune announced that they would be ending the daily paper and instead switch to thrice-weekly issues plus online content. The reason they gave for this was because "it's the 21st century, we can be super modern, blah, blah, blah". I doubt anyone except a native would know, but the TP is the local newspaper for my hometown New Orleans and a good bit of southern Louisiana.
I've enjoyed the newspaper for many years.
At first it was just the comics. I remember when they had 2 pages of them in the Living section, and the time they decided to change they up. Sunday mornings were some of the finest moments of my childhood-- the comics would have an entire section to themselves, six pages of glorious color and hilarity. Reading the horoscopes and reading the advice columns (they were right next to the comics) was also pretty fun too.
Later, I began to read the headlines. I remember when the Iraq War broke out, and I'd read literally every singe article in the paper about it, breathlessly tracking the Army's advance through Iraq. I suppose it was kind of a boring war for a kid because the American military went through Iraq like a hot knife through butter. I also recall the 2008 election, hungrily scanning analyses of each candidate, the results of each primary, and then finally the election results. I think I still have that paper somewhere.
Well, you get the idea. As time went on, I read more and more of the newspaper. I began to read the editorials (mostly political ones, and I developed a pretty thorough dislike of Charles Krauthammer), and finally began to peruse the sports section. The latter was, not coincidentally, when the Saints decided to get good. Yeah, I know there's some problems with them now, but that's not the issue here, m'kay?
There have been a lot of opinions about the end of the newspaper. Most of them, obviously, were like WTF YOU CAN'T TAKE OUR NEWSPAPER AWAY. I've seen at least one of them in the opinions section each day. The mayor (Mitch Landrieu) even made a statement asking the group to keep the paper. The basic argument was that New Orleans is a "major city" (okay, we're not that big, but we're still kind of important in a regional scale), and deserved its paper.
Other people bemoaned how the digital age was killing print, just like how ebooks were hurting bookstores. Somewhat ironically, there's even a petition, a facebook page, a website-- all the internet activism we've come to expect in this day when confronted with any issue or cause.
Well, I don't quite agree with them. The problem is, well, the TP just isn't that good anymore.
Once upon a time, I'd get up and fetch the newspaper from the driveway before school. That roll had some heft, and it wasn't just because I was a scrawny ten year old. The headlines, local, living, money, sports, classified (and maybe some other sections) were all full sheaves of slightly smelly newsprint.
Now, its a pretty pitiful little roll. Looking at it and remembering how it used to be is like seeing my paternal grandpa-- he's dead now, and may he rest in peace. There's pictures of him with my dad, and he's a pretty big fellow-- 6 foot tall, probably around 200 pounds. Looks like he could be a NFL player, though there's no Asian ones. Compare that to how I knew him in life-- 70 years old, a halo of white hair, wrists thinner than mine and in clothes too large for him-- clothes for his younger self.
The headlines are barely a dozen pages thick these days, and most of them are AP or Reuters reprints. The Money section is at the back of the Living section (its actually not there sometimes). Classified ads have now been consolidated to the back of the Sports section. I suppose the day that they turned the weekday comics from a 2 page to a 1 page spread was the beginning of the decline, but I was too little to know at that point.
I remember I could spend a good amount of time reading the paper. I would race against time to see if I could hit the comics, the editorials and anything else that struck my fancy before I'd have to go to school. Now, I can get through everything I feel is interesting (and a lot of filler material) before I even finish my breakfast.
It's really sad. As much as I hate to say it, the TP kind of sucks now. It's short and not particularly interesting. If we can't have a good newspaper, we might as well not have one at all.
Ah, I wanted to write about how its like Brood War, but I'm too lazy. Disclaimer: In no way am I advocating euthanizing my grandpa or killing Brood War.
