MMMM # 410 -- One year of 3-a-week newspapers..and a pay wall too.

   

    It's been a year since what were then the three largest daily newspapers in Alabama dropped all but three of their daily publications and went mostly online. 
     Depending on to whom you listen, it's either been a great success, or, in the words of a former Federal Prosecutor:

"Hell, we can’t even get good coverage of University of Alabama football anymore..."

     That quote is from the Poynter website, which marked the one-year anniversary with a story that includes coverage of the other city where the papers' owner cut back to three days a week, New Orleans. The story's conclusion? The markets where it happened are now media "fractured".
     All four papers have sold or are trying to sell their news buildings.
     That decision made The Montgomery Advertiser the largest daily paper in the state, and it still is. But it instituted a pay-wall a year ago next month, and named a new editor.
     Next March will mark the third year since The N.Y. Times built its own paywall.

[The Monday Morning Media Memo is a regular feature of Tim Lennox.com]