A new digitally focused media company — the Alabama Media Group, which will include The Birmingham News, the Press-Register of Mobile, The Huntsville Times and al.com — will launch this fall to serve readers and advertisers across the state, according to Cindy Martin, who will become president of the new organization.The change is designed to reshape how Alabama's leading media companies deliver award-winning local news, sports and entertainment coverage in an increasingly digital age. The Alabama Media Group will dramatically expand its news-gathering efforts around the clock, seven days a week, while offering enhanced printed newspapers on a schedule of three days a week. The newspapers will be home-delivered and sold in stores on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays only.A second company, Advance Central Services Alabama, ... Continue reading →

Just how tough it’s getting for newspapers is hammered home in the news that The Times-Picayune of New Orleans is going to publish only three days a week — Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Veteran journalist Bill Minor, who worked there 31 years, said the news “speaks loudly for the endangered nature of newspapers and print journalism. It’s a tragic development.” The Times-Picayune is also reducing its staff, The New York Times is reporting. “I never dreamed this day would come,” said Minor, who covered Mississippi for the newspaper, which is celebrating its 175th anniversary this year. The paper has deep Mississippi ties, founded by the Nicholson family from Hancock County, he said. The Gulf Coast town, Picayune, was actually named after the newspaper, he said. ... Continue reading →