Jun 11, 201207:50 AM
The Editor's Room
Weekly Commentary with New Orleans Magazine’s Errol Laborde
Holy Cow, Can Allen Toussaint Save the Times-Picayune?
Photos by Errol Laborde
Allen Toussaint has rescued the careers of many singers, but I never though he would be needed to help salvage the Times-Picayune. There he was though, on the makeshift stage in the Rock ‘n' Bowl parking lot for the rally to save the newspaper from marginalization at the hands of its owners.
Toussaint’s opening song, “Holy Cow,” one of his many classics, summed up the situation perfect, as though written for the Newhouse clan and their accomplices:
I can't eat
And I can't sleep
Since you walked out on me, yeah
Holy cow, what you doing, child?
Holy cow, what you doing, child?
What you doing, what you doing, child?
Holy smoke, well, it ain't no joke
No joke, hey, hey, hey
Give the Newhouses credit, though; they have united the city in a way no one has since the Saints Superbowl run. Their plan to reduce the daily’s frequency is universally disliked, and no one is dazzled by the talk of a web upgrade. “What’s going on?” a truck driver paused at a stop sign asked as I waited to cross South Carrollton to attend the event. “Is there free music or something.?” I explained that it was a rally to try to save the newspaper. “Oh yeah," he responded, "that three times a week thing, that aint no good.” Then he drove away.
Here are some pictures from the event, but first:
First my boss
The job I lost
Since you walked out on me, yeah
Holy smoke, what you doing to me, me?
Walking the ledge
Nerves on edge
Since you walked out on me, yeah
Holy cow, what you doing to me, child?
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Errol Laborde holds a Ph.D. in political science from the University of New Orleans and is the editor-in-chief of Renaissance Publishing. In that capacity he serves as editor/associate publisher of 
Reader Comments:
It's all about control and access to news and information. How can you make good decisions if all you have to go on is "news" that is slanted or propaganda at worst,at the other hand or homogenized, generic an irrelevant at best?
They have no interest in meeting the needs of any of their readers anywhere. That's not why they're in business. The T-P no doubt will be stripped of assets and gone in 3 years. Were that not the case, they would be announcing additional hiring of reporters and journalists!
Maybe we need to recruit an army of new subscribers who collectively will show the daily newspaper is very important to so many of us.
I subscribe. Do you? Now seems to be the time.
I am also going to call City Hall and my district representative to hear what they are doing to save our beloved daily newspaper. Please, get on board and subscribe!
I feel Katrina-like anguish over this impending loss!
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