First NOLA edition

The new bureau

by Mary-Devon Dupuy

On June 4, print lovers gathered in the parking lot of the Rock ‘n’ Bowl to protest the Times-Picayune’s shift from daily to digital. This morning, paper proponents again gathered at the site this morning to see the staff from the Baton Rouge Advocate announce the arrival of their own daily New Orleans newspaper. The newest competition for the NOLA Media Group will begin distributing to subscribers homes on October 1, with 2,000 New Orleans residents already signed up for daily delivery. 

Guests entered the bowling alley to the sounds of the Lagniappe Brass Band. A few minutes after 10:30,  GNO Inc. chairman-elect opened the announcement by saying that “New Orleans is a world class city, and New Orleans deserves a first class daily newspaper.”

Rusovich included that GNO Inc. “heartily welcomes the Advocate and the Manship family into our community.”

Advocate Publisher David Manship explained that the idea to bring the Red Stick’s daily to the Big Easy started with a couple of free papers and quickly escalated based on the demand he saw from residents for a daily print news source.  

“At first, it started out as an idea, ‘well we’ll just buy a couple of new machines, put ‘em on street corners and throw some papers in there and see how many we can sell,’ said Manship. “It’s bloomed into a full fledged effort.”

Manship added that his publication is a long time family business. “My family purchased the Advocate in 1909, and we’ve been owners and publishers ever since,” he said.

While Manship explained his paper’s commitment to New Orleans, he took the opportunity to compare his business philosophy to that of the NOLA Media Group.

“We’re not naïve enough to sit up here and say ‘the times have changed, and we’re changing with them.’ The times have already changed. We’ve had a website, we’ve got all the mobile apps you could possibly want, we’ve got an e-edition that you can read online like you read the regular newspaper,” Manship went on, “But we still believe in the printed product—there’s something special in the morning about getting up and getting your daily paper.” 

The New Orleans bureau will be led by former Times-Pic writer Sara Pagones. Other former T-P writers who opted to join the Advocate staff include Danny Monteverde, Ted Lewis, and Kari Dequine Harden. Former T-P Photographer John McCusker is also on board.

Advocate Executive Editor Carl Redman touted the Advocate’s scope, especially the paper’s sports coverage.

“No body covers LSU athletics and academics or Southern athletics and academics the way that we do,” said Redman.

Once the new staff left the stage, NoDef caught up with Redman to ask about the Advocate’s projected circulation in their new home.

“We wouldn’t want to speculate right now, but we have 2,000 signed up already. We haven’t advertised at all, and we just sent out a press release,” said Redman.

As the new edition launches, the Advocate has a two-front battle on their hands. Last week, the NOLA Media Group announced they were crossing the western edge of Lake Pontchartrain to open a new Baton Rouge office, producing a three-times-a-week printed newspaper, and content for nola.com.

Through it all, citizens will be the beneficiary of all the flying news. Those who are planning to leave town this week should find someone to man the porch for stray newspapers. The Advocate will be distributing free papers to people’s porches throughout the week leading up to October 1, when they will begin home delivery for subscribers only.