Battle for New Orleans on the journalism front

It doesn't sound like the smartest strategy for success. Despite all the travails in the newspaper business today, a not particularly distinguished paper with a circulation under 100,000 decides to compete in a market 80 miles away. But that's what is happening in southern Louisiana, where The Advocate in Baton Rouge, under new ownership and new leadership, seems poised to significantly expand its foray into New Orleans.

Of course, this is New Orleans, where the rules are different. So the audacious game plan might not be so crazy. The Newhouse family's Advance Publications, which owns New Orleans' Times-Picayune, opened the door to this unlikely newspaper war last May when it announced that it was adopting a digital-first strategy and that the paper would only come out three days a week, laying off a third of its staff in the process. Sensing an opening, The Advocate opened up a New Orleans bureau and last October launched a New Orleans edition. It now sells about 20,000 copies a day there, a remarkable number in such a short time. And the stakes are about to be raised, big time.