Since 2008, we have seen dramatic newsroom cuts at America’s major daily newspapers, and we’ve even seen some of our nation’s longest-running papers cease operations altogether.

Today the New York Times is reporting more big cuts. David Carr writes that "The New Orleans Times-Picayune, which distinguished itself amid great adversity during Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath, is about to enact large staff cuts and may cut back its daily print publishing schedule, according to two employees with knowledge of the plans."

The Poynter Institute noted on Twitter that New Orleans will be the largest U.S. city without a daily newspaper once the Times-Picayune goes down to printing just three times a week.

I know it is not hip to talk about "saving journalism" anymore, that we are supposed to be optimistic about the fact that more people than ever are reading news and that new technology is leading to unprecedented innovation in journalism, but when I hear news like this I can't help but wonder how we can continue to support talented people, doing essential journalism, in places that need it desperately. 

I'm no advocate of propping up old business models, but when an institution like the Times-Picayune crumbles where do the journalists go? How can we help preserve the resources of old institutions and help transition the best of what these papers did into new models and new outlets? How can we help prepare journalists to launch new startups when they leave old papers? And how can we break down the barriers — like the IRS’ ongoing delay in approving nonprofit journalism applications — for people who want to refocus on journalism’s public-interest mission? 

New training is surely part of it, but we need to think beyond workshops and conferences. In 2009, we proposed five changes we thought could help transform our media system for the digital age and help expand local, diverse, public interest-oriented journalism. One of our key recommendations was rethinking the tax code to encourage putting more media in the hands of local people and supporting new hybrid models for news organizations.

In the Times-Picayune’s back yard is the Lens, a nonprofit journalism startup. The Lens is just two years old and has already won awards and made an impact on the local news landscape. However, the Lens has also been suffering as it waits for the IRS to approve its application for nonprofit status. Today’s report of cutbacks at the Times-Picayune highlights what’s at stake with these debates.

The Lens is doing fantastic investigative journalism, but with a shoestring staff it can do only so much to fill the gaps in reporting the Times-Picayune’s layoffs will create. And this dynamic is repeating itself all over the country.

I am optimistic that new structures and networks will eventually support a bold and exciting new era of rigorous local journalism. We can already look at cities like New York, Chicago and San Francisco where new journalism models are emerging all the time, and new experiments are being pioneered. But we also need to look at what is happening in cities like New Orleans, Witchita, Kan., Sioux Falls, S.D., Memphis and Louisville. And it would be a mistake to think that we’ll reach that new era of journalism without working hard on the policies and structures that shape our media system, many of which are out of date or out of line with the public interest.

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