Maybe it’ll even out, maybe the weeklies will grow into some new configuration I haven’t thought of yet. Maybe some of the online sites, like NOLA Defender, can move into print. But I’d really hate to see this town go without a strong daily while the little guys grow into their new roles. A good, strong daily paper of record, cold hard print, is still the best watchdog a city has against forces trying to do it ill.

Still I can’t help but wonder. If I had the guts and the inclination to pursue such an idea, I’d start small. It wouldn’t be color. It wouldn’t cover the whole greater metro area. It wouldn’t even be daily, in the beginning. But it would be founded with a bankable promise, to stay committed to the local community, and to grow as fast as responsibly possible.

In that case the Gambit or the Louisiana Weekly or even the Data would seem well poised to take the initiative.

I realize I just used “bankable” a couple sentences ago because I thought it sounded good, even though I have no idea what that means, so probably I should shut up now.

You also need a place to put your ginormous printing press, so buy a building. You might be able to cut a deal with the Houma Courier or the Hattiesburg American and use their press, but not for a daily. This is, of course, on top of the staffing of the paper itself.

You would be asking a group of entrepreneurs to finance a many-multi-million dollar startup in a declining market against a profitable competitor with the best market penetration of any newspaper in the country. The reason so many people are pushing Newhouse to sell is for precisely these reasons; Newhouse apparently wants out of the printed paper business, and is slowly inching that way, and while the TP is profitable now, it likely will not be in coming years, or at least much less profitable — Newhouse’s measures are all aimed at cutting costs rather than expanding profits. Despite their protestations, they may very well be talked into selling — maybe not this year, but perhaps the next.

Starting up a daily in this market at this time would be insanity. Buying one from someone who has little interest and an increasingly hostile readership — that’s another matter.