Monthly Archives: June 2012

Author and freelance journalist Jason Berry discusses Times-Picayune saga on WYES-TV’s “Informed Sources”

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Freelance investigative journalist and author Jason Berry, who penned a June 12 article for The Nation about the debacle at the newspaper titled “Rolling the Dice at The Times-Picayune,” appeared last night (June 29) on New Orleans’ public television station WYES-TV’s “Informed Sources” to talk about the latest developments in the ongoing saga. (Watch the entire program by clicking here.)

Among his choice observations:

On Friday’s decision by at least eight newsroom staffers to reject the newspaper’s offers to stay: “This is like the New Orleans Saints – everyone is wondering when Drew Brees is going to sign – this is like the entire backfield.”

On Advance Publications/ Newhouse’s new direction and the resulting brain drain: “This has been an amazing disaster. Here you have a newspaper that won four Pulitzer Prizes in 20 years, and they’ve wiped out their institutional memory, they’re losing many of their best reporters and they’re making money in the process.”

On profitability: “They had about an 8% profit last year, which means the Picayune made somewhere in the $8 million-to-$10 million range, not a bad profit.”

On the single-mindedness of the Newhouse’s plan: “They made no effort to build a circulation drive, to try to draw in younger readers, or any number of things they could have done, and absolutely had no interest in doing. And so now we have this skeleton where they once had a pretty healthy, thriving newspaper.”

On the New Orleans business community’s responsibility to do more to ensure that the resurging post-Katrina city has a daily newspaper: “I think the challenge to the business community here is striking because we are becoming an international city, we have become a city of the young … the number of entrepreneurs, website developers, young filmmakers who have come here in the last several years, not to mention the resurgence of the music community, the restaurants … All of this is fodder for a good daily paper. The question is whether the business community will simply sit back, be passive, let the Picayune lumber along as this new skeleton, or whether they’ll recognize that getting behind a serious, bona fide news engine will be to the betterment of the community, which certainly it would be.”

Exodus has begun: Gambit reports on veteran T-P staffers declining offers to stay

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In a post late tonight, Gambit, New Orleans’ alternative weekly, reports that at least four veteran Times-Picayune reporters and columnists are rejecting offers to remain with NOLA Media Group when the company abandons daily print publication beginning Oct. 1.

You can read the story here.

Avenue Pub raises more than $2,800 for dashTHIRTYdash Tuesday night

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Polly Watts, owner of The Avenue Pub, just wrote a check to dashTHIRTYdash for $2,811.70 – the take from her venue ALONE at tonight’s Lower Garden District pub crawl fundraiser benefiting dashTHIRTYdash. (Thank you, Polly!)

The Avenue Pub, at 1732 St. Charles Ave., is one of three St. Charles Avenue restaurants and nightspots in the Lower Garden District that joined with NOLA Brewing to host the pub crawl. It donated 100% of all liquor, beer and wine sales between 6-9 PM to the fund.

We don’t yet have totals from the other two venues – Mia’s Balcony, 1622 St. Charles Ave., which is donating 10% of food sales for the entire day, plus 100% of NOLA Brewery beer sales; and The Irish House restaurant, 1432 St. Charles Ave., which is donating 100% of NOLA Brewery beer sales from 6-9 PM.

NOLA Brewing donated all of its branded tap beers to the event. Crescent Crown Distributing also is assisting with the evening.

Triple header Thursday for dashTHIRTYdash

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Three St. Charles Avenue Restaurants and Bars Band Together to Host Pub Crawl Fundraiser to Assist Newspaper Employees and Contractors Set to Lose Jobs

NEW ORLEANS, Thursday, June 28, 2012 – Three St. Charles Avenue restaurants and nightspots in the Lower Garden District and NOLA Brewing are banding together today to host a pub crawl benefiting dashTHIRTYdash. Participating venues include:

  •  Mia’s Balcony, 1622 St. Charles Ave. The restaurant will donate 10% of food sales for the entire day, plus 100% of NOLA Brewery beer sales to the fund.
  •  The Irish House restaurant, 1432 St. Charles Ave., will donate 100% of NOLA Brewery beer sales from 6-9 PM to the fund.

NOLA Brewing is donating all of its branded tap beers to the event. Crescent Crown Distributing also is assisting with the evening.

Times-Picayune alumnus Chuck Cook, now news content advisor for student media at The University of Southern Mississippi, will be selling dashTHIRTYdash t-shirts to benefit the fund during the evening. Prices are $15 for civilians, $5 with a Times-Picayune employee ID.

Then, on Sunday, July 1, Slim Goodies Diner, 3322 Magazine St. also in the Lower Garden District, will contribute 20% of its receipts to the fund. Hours are 6 AM to 3 PM.

dashTHIRTYdash is the newly created fund to financially assist Times-Picayune employees and contractors slated to lose their jobs or a significant portion of their income Sept. 30 as the newspaper abandons daily publication. A number of local restaurants and businesses – ranging from the Ralph Brennan Restaurant Group to jeweler Mignon Faget – have created either special products or menu offerings or hosted events, all with some portion of proceeds going to the fund.

Individuals, companies or organizations wishing to donate to dashTHIRTYdash may send checks payable to the Contemporary Arts Center, but in the memo line of the check, please write DashThirtyDash Fund. Checks should be mailed to the Contemporary Arts Center, c/o Glenn W. Gruber, Associate Director/CFO, 900 Camp St. New Orleans, LA 70130. Again, contributions are tax-deductible. Fund organizers also are working on online credit card and/or PayPal donation options.

New Orleans-areas restaurants, bars or other businesses interested in hosting benefits for dashTHIRTYdash or donating proceeds from sales of products or services should contact Times-Picayune alumna Rebecca Theim at phone number or email address below.

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About dashTHIRTYdash

dashTHIRTYdash is a fund to financially assist employees and contractors of The Times-Picayune slated to lose their jobs or a significant portion of their income Sept. 30 as the newspaper abandons daily publication. The Contemporary Arts Center of New Orleans is serving as the fund’s fiscal agent, which makes dashTHIRTYdash contributions tax-deductible. The fund also is benefiting from the professional expertise of CAC’s Accounting Services Program, which serves New Orleans-area non-profits.

The designation “-30-” historically was added by journalists to the end of their reports to indicate “end of story.” But on June 12, 2012, -30- took on a new meaning in New Orleans, as Times-Picayune staffers used it on Facebook and other social media to simply yet powerfully signal that they were among the roughly 200 staffers who will lose their jobs as the 175-year-old, Pulitzer Prize-winning paper pivots to primarily digital distribution.

dashTHIRTYdash is inspired by the post-Katrina “Friends of The Times-Picayune,” which was created in 2005 by four newspaper alumnae. That fund assisted employees across the newspaper who lost their homes or suffered serious financial losses after the storm.

dashTHIRTYdash is on the Internet at http://www.dashthirtydash.org, on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/Dash30DashNOLA and on Twitter at http://twitter.com/Dash30DashNOLA.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Rebecca Theim (Times-Picayune alumna, 1988-94), 702-622-8154 (cell), rebecca at rebeccatheim dot com.

Successful fundraiser and unexpected visit by new publisher

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LePetite Grocery will donate 30% of its receipts from its June 26 dinner hours to the fund.

La Petite Grocery Restaurant and Bar in Uptown New Orleans Tuesday (6/26) hosted the first of several fundraisers this week at local restaurants and bars for dashTHIRTYdash. La Petite will donate 30% of Tuesday’s dinner proceeds to the fund and also politely solicited diners for additional, direct donations to the fund. (Please see text at bottom of the image, left.)

Although we don’t yet have a final report on the evening, business was reported as very “robust” (to borrow a new favorite word in the newsroom) and many Times-Picayune staffers joined friends and family at the restaurant.

The evening’s only real drama occurred early, when incoming Times-Picayune Publisher Ricky Mathews and David Francis, the Picayune‘s VP and GM, accompanied by another man, entered the restaurant. A sharp-eyed and quick-Facebook-posting Times-Picayune staffer waiting at the bar for a friend almost spit out her cocktail when she saw them.

“Ricky Go Home” fliers have been posted around town.

Mathews, who has encountered every manner of scorn and ridicule in NOLA because of the plans to reduce the Times-Picayune’s daily publication to thrice weekly, lay off one-third of its employees and reallocate remaining resources to the newspaper’s widely derided website, recently wrote about the changes on the front page of the newspaper in an article titled “The Times-Picayune and NOLA.com are here to stay.” He also spoke about them with NOLA.com Editor James O’Byrne at a recent gathering of New Orleans tech industry professionals. Mathews also has been the subject of a grassroots “Ricky Go Home” campaign. (He’s coming to New Orleans from Times-Picayune sister newspapers in Alabama.)

After taking a seat at a table near the bar, Francis, Mathews and the other man abruptly left only a couple of minutes later, according to the T-P staffer, who will lose her job on Sept. 30 along with about 200 other employees, but asked that her identity not be disclosed because of concerns about her severance. The employee asked the maître d’ why they left so quickly and the maître d’ responded that Francis and Mathews “said they had an emergency and kind of giggled when they said it.” Francis had made the dinner reservation, the maître d’ told the staffer.

Based on how quickly the trio left, the staffer believes their selection of La Petite on the same evening as the dashTHIRTYdash benefit was purely coincidental. As soon as they opened their menus and saw a flier promoting the benefit, they thought better of dining at the restaurant, at least on that particular evening, she speculated.

Before talking to the staffer, it never would have occurred to me that Mathews’ and Francis’ dining selection was anything other than reconnaissance at best, superciliousness at worst. (Reporters, even former ones, are big on conspiracy theories and evil lurking around every corner.) Before speaking to her, I had sent the following email to Mathews and Francis, and copied outgoing Times-Picayune Publisher Ashton Phelps and Editor Jim Amoss. Mathews, Frances and Amoss all have opened the email, according to “read” receipts I’ve received, but I haven’t received any responses yet.

Incoming Times-Picayune Publisher Ricky Mathews’ Page 1 banner editorial in the June 17 edition of the newspaper.

Subject: May we count on you to make a dashTHIRTYdash contribution in light of your aborted LaPetite dinner?

Dear Messrs. Mathews and Francis:

I’m a Times-Picayune alum and one of the primary organizers of dashTHIRTYdash, the fund that’s raising money to benefit newspaper staffers who will lose their jobs as the paper makes the changes Mr. Mathews and others have been writing and speaking about so much recently.

Because you’ve both been in the business for so long, I know you understand the challenges many of these dedicated individuals face, particularly if they want to stay in the business or remain in their beloved New Orleans. For that reason, I assume you support our grassroots efforts to make their upcoming unemployment a little more comfortable as they chart a course to the next chapter in their working lives.

We were disappointed that you and your companion could not stay for your dinner reservation tonight at LaPetite Grocery, which you no doubt knew is hosting the first of several dashTHIRTYdash fundraisers this week. I hope the emergency that you mentioned to the maître d’ as you left before having dinner wasn’t too serious.

Especially given that you were unable to stay and show your support of the fund, may we count on you to make direct and personal contributions to dashTHIRTYdash? If so, please make your checks payable to the Contemporary Arts Center of New Orleans, which is serving as our fiscal agent, and write “dashTHIRTYdash” in the check’s memo line. You may then mail your checks to dashTHIRTYdash, c/o The Contemporary Arts Center of New Orleans, Att’n: Glenn W. Gruber, Associate Director/CFO, 900 Camp St., New Orleans, LA 70130.

Because the CAC is also our 501(c) sponsor, any donation you make to the fund is fully tax-deductible.

I understand that some may find our modest effort amusing, or even comical enough to elicit a giggle or two, but I’ve been once again amazed by the generosity and kindness of New Orleanians as they rally behind these wonderful people. We raised several thousand dollars before we were even formally capable of accepting contributions, so I’m hopeful we’ll do some genuine good for these dedicated, soon-to-be-former staffers of  the wonderful publication you will continue to helm.

I thank you both in advance for your consideration of my request.

Sincerely,

REBECCA THEIM, Times-Picayune Alum (1988-94)

Next up on the dashTHIRTYdash fundraising circuit is a triple header Thursday night (June 28): a pub crawl along St. Charles Avenue at The Avenue Pub, Mia’s Balcony and The Irish House. The venues are donating anywhere from 10% to 100% of the proceeds from various offerings throughout the day and evening. Then on Sunday, July 1, Slim Goodies Diner, 3322 Magazine St. also in the Lower Garden District, will contribute 20% of its 6 AM-3 PM breakfast/brunch receipts to the fund.

UPDATE, 6/27/2012, 10:12 AM CDT: No responses to my email, although I did receive a “read” receipt at about 10:30 PM CDT last night that Francis also had opened his copy of it. Phelps’ copy to his Times-Picayune address generated an automated response asking that any emails be re-sent to his personal address, which I did.

New Orleans’ Gambit gives dashTHIRTYdash “bouquet”

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Gambit, New Orleans’ alternative weekly, and the only media outlet that’s truly covered what’s going on with The Times-Picayune (although The New York Times‘ David Carr has given Gambit Editor Kevin Allman a run for his money) awarded dashTHIRTYdash a bouquet in its “Bouquets & Brickbats” feature this week. The bouquet is specifically tied to Thursday’s St. Charles Avenue pub crawl benefiting the fund.

AJR: Can changes at a newspaper unify a city?

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The website of the American Journalism Review, one of the nation’s two preeminent magazines about the journalism business, today published an article titled “How Changes at a Newspaper are Unifying a City.”

The article profiles New Orleans civic activist Anne Milling, restaurateur Ralph Brennan and Times-Picayune alumna Rebecca Theim about the community’s and staff’s reactions of the newspaper’s owner, Advance Publications, to cut the daily publication of the paper to thrice weekly, slash the staff by one-third and focus resources on NOLA.com, the newspaper’s much-criticized website.

You may access the article by clicking here.

New Orleans rallies behind Times-Picayune and dashTHIRTYdash

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Local Restaurants and Bars Host Fundraisers to Assist Newspaper Employees and Contractors Set to Lose Jobs

NEW ORLEANS, Friday, June 22, 2012 – Petitions, letters, Facebook pages, fliers, banners, rallies, and meetings about creating possible competitive news outlets are among the reactions to the recent announcement that New Orleans will soon be the largest U.S. city without a daily newspaper. Individual New Orleans businesses now are rallying behind the men and women who produce their beloved Times-Picayune. These businesses are beginning to host fundraisers for dashTHIRTYdash, the newly created fund to financially assist Times-Picayune employees and contractors slated to lose their jobs or a significant portion of their income Sept. 30 as the newspaper abandons daily publication.

“Save the Picayune” signature drink specials have been offered since June 8 by all five Ralph Brennan Restaurant Group properties (Red Fish Grill, Jazz Kitchen®, Ralph’s on the Park, café b, café NOMA and Metairie’s Heritage Grill), from which 20% of proceeds will go to dashTHIRTYdash. N’Tini’s Steaks and Martinis in suburban Mandeville offered a “Daily Picayune” martini June 18, with 50% of sales being earmarked for the fund. And New Orleans jeweler Mignon Faget has created a Times-Picayune pin, from which 10% of the proceeds will go the fund.

Next up is LaPetite Grocery Restaurant and Bar, 4238 Magazine St., in New Orleans’ Uptown neighborhood, which will donate 30% of receipts to dashTHIRTYdash from its Tuesday, June 26 dinner hours. The restaurant will extend its customary closing time by an hour until 10:30 PM. Reservations may be made 24/7 at OpenTable.com.

Efforts for dashTHIRTYdash then move to the Lower Garden District on Thursday, June 28, when three St. Charles Avenue restaurants and NOLA Brewing will host a dashTHIRTYdash restaurant and pub crawl. Participating restaurants include:

  • The Avenue Pub, 1732 St. Charles Ave. (at Polymnia). The venue will donate 100% of all liquor, beer and wine sales between 6-9 PM to the fund. (Please note that Avenue Pub is a 21-and-over establishment.)
  •  Mia’s Balcony, 1622 St. Charles Ave. The restaurant will donate 10% of food sales for the entire day, plus 100% of NOLA Brewery beer sales to the fund.
  •  The Irish House restaurant, 1432 St. Charles Ave., will donate 100% of NOLA Brewery beer sales from 6-9 PM to the fund.

Crescent Crown Distributing also is assisting with the evening.

Then, on Sunday, July 1, Slim Goodies Diner, 3322 Magazine St. also in the Lower Garden District, will contribute 20% of its receipts to the fund. Hours are 6 AM to 3 PM.

Other organizations and individuals assisting with dashTHIRTYdash include:

  • The Contemporary Arts Center of New Orleans, which is serving as the fund’s fiscal agent. Going through the CAC allows dashTHIRTYdash to benefit from the respected center’s non-profit status, which makes dashTHIRTYdash contributions tax-deductible. dashTHIRTYdash also will benefit from assistance by CAC’s Accounting Services Program, which was created after 2005’s Hurricane Katrina to help the growing number of New Orleans non-profits.
  •  Author, photographer, graphics designer and artist Kit Wohl, CEO of Wohl & Company, a New Orleans-based advertising, public relations and marketing firm, who has donated design and graphics services, including concepting and designing the dashTHIRTYdash logo.
  • Times-Picayune alumnus Chuck Cook, now news content advisor for student media at The University of Southern Mississippi, who with student Kiza Jordan designed and will oversee production of dashTHIRTYdash t-shirts that will be sold to benefit the fund.

Individuals, companies or organizations wishing to donate to dashTHIRTYdash may send checks payable to the Contemporary Arts Center, but in the memo line of the check, please write DashThirtyDash Fund. Checks should be mailed to the Contemporary Arts Center, c/o Glenn W. Gruber, Associate Director/CFO, 900 Camp St. New Orleans, LA 70130. Again, contributions are tax-deductible.

New Orleans-areas restaurants, bars or other businesses interested in hosting benefits for dashTHIRTYdash or donating proceeds from sales of products or services should contact Times-Picayune alumna Rebecca Theim at phone number or email address below.

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About dashTHIRTYdash

dashTHIRTYdash is a fund to financially assist employees and contractors of The Times-Picayune slated to lose their jobs or a significant portion of their income Sept. 30 as the newspaper abandons daily publication. The Contemporary Arts Center of New Orleans is serving as the fund’s fiscal agent, which makes dashTHIRTYdash contributions tax-deductible. The fund also is benefiting from the professional expertise of CAC’s Accounting Services Program, which serves New Orleans-area non-profits.

The designation “-30-” historically was added by journalists to the end of their reports to indicate “end of story.” But on June 12, 2012, -30- took on a new meaning in New Orleans, as Times-Picayune staffers used it on Facebook and other social media to simply yet powerfully signal that they were among the roughly 200 staffers who will lose their jobs as the 175-year-old, Pulitzer Prize-winning paper pivots to primarily digital distribution.

dashTHIRTYdash is inspired by the post-Katrina “Friends of The Times-Picayune,” which was created in 2005 by four newspaper alumnae. That fund assisted employees across the newspaper who lost their homes or suffered serious financial losses after the storm.

dashTHIRTYdash is on the Internet at http://www.dashthirtydash.org, on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/Dash30DashNOLA and on Twitter at http://twitter.com/Dash30DashNOLA.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Rebecca Theim (Times-Picayune alumna, 1988-94), 702-622-8154 (cell), rebecca at rebeccatheim dot com.

dashTHIRTYdash sets groundwork for distributing donations

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NEW ORLEANS, Friday, June 22, 2012 – An ad hoc committee met Thursday to set the groundwork for the newly created dashTHIRTYdash, a fund that will raise and distribute money to assist employees and contractors of The Times-Picayune slated to lose their jobs or a significant portion of their income Sept. 30 as the newspaper abandons daily publication.

The informal group includes community leaders, staff from the Contemporary Arts Center of New Orleans (which is serving as the fund’s fiscal agent), fund donors and Times-Picayune alumni. The committee also solicited input from current Times-Picayune staffers.

The group agreed to create a tiered system that will base the amount of money individuals receive on whether they are laid off completely by the company or lose some of their income because of the changes. That approach will allow the fund to award money to freelancers, newspaper delivery people and others who are not technically employees of The Times-Picayune Publishing Corp. and may not lose their entire livelihood because of the changes, but nonetheless will be hurt by them.

The fund expects to launch a straightforward and easy application process around Sept. 1 and intends to distribute checks within two-to-three weeks of the paper’s end of daily publication, which is expected to be on or around Sept. 30.

Individuals, companies or organizations wishing to donate to dashTHIRTYdash may send checks payable to the Contemporary Arts Center, but in the memo line of the check, please write DashThirtyDash Fund. Checks should be mailed to the Contemporary Arts Center, c/o Glenn W. Gruber, Associate Director/CFO, 900 Camp St. New Orleans, LA 70130. Contributions are tax-deductible.

A number of New Orleans-areas restaurants and bars are hosting fundraisers next week for dashTHIRTYdash. Other restaurants, bars or businesses interested in holding benefits for the fund or donating proceeds from sales of products or services should contact Times-Picayune alumna Rebecca Theim at the phone number or email below.

-30-

About dashTHIRTYdash

dashTHIRTYdash is a fund to financially assist employees and contractors of The Times-Picayune slated to lose their jobs or a significant portion of their income Sept. 30 as the newspaper abandons daily publication. The Contemporary Arts Center of New Orleans is serving as the fund’s fiscal agent, which makes dashTHIRTYdash contributions tax-deductible. The fund also is benefiting from the professional expertise of CAC’s Accounting Services Program, which serves New Orleans-area non-profits.

The designation “-30-” historically was added by journalists to the end of their reports to indicate “end of story.” But on June 12, 2012, -30- took on a new meaning in New Orleans, as Times-Picayune staffers used it on Facebook and other social media to simply yet powerfully signal that they were among the roughly 200 staffers who will lose their jobs as the 175-year-old, Pulitzer Prize-winning paper pivots primarily to digital distribution.

dashTHIRTYdash is inspired by the post-Katrina “Friends of The Times-Picayune,” which was created in 2005 by four newspaper alumnae. That fund assisted employees across the newspaper who lost their homes or suffered serious financial losses after the storm.

dashTHIRTYdash is on the Internet at http://www.dashthirtydash.org, on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/Dash30DashNOLA and on Twitter at http://twitter.com/Dash30DashNOLA.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Rebecca Theim (Times-Picayune alumna, 1988-94), 702-622-8154 (cell), rebecca at rebeccatheim dot com

DashThirtyDash: Times-Picayune Employee Assistance Fund

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Dash30Dash is a fund to financially assist employees, freelancers and contractors (including newspaper delivery people) of The Times-Picayune of New Orleans who will lose their jobs Sept. 30, 2012 as the newspaper abandons daily publication.

The Contemporary Arts Center of New Orleans has graciously agreed to be our 501(c)3 non-profit fiduciary agent, which means all contributions will be tax-deductible and be subject to professional oversight as they are distributed.

Checks should be made payable to the Contemporary Arts Center, but in the memo line of the check, donors should write DashThirtyDash Fund.

Checks should be mailed to the Contemporary Arts Center, c/o Glenn W. Gruber, Associate Director/CFO, 900 Camp St. New Orleans, LA 70130.

We hope to have online and credit card donation options available shortly.

Please contact T-P alum (1988-94) Rebecca Theim at rebecca at rebeccatheim dot com or 702-622-8154 (PDT) with questions or suggestions.