New Orleans Paper to Restart the Presses

After three days of publishing news only on its Internet site, the New Orleans Times-Picayune announced Thursday that it would restart its print edition today in the flood-ravaged city.

A statement from the largest newspaper in Louisiana said about 50,000 copies of today’s edition would be printed at the plant operated by the Courier newspaper in nearby Houma.

Publisher Ashton Phelps Jr. did not comment on the long-term prospects for the Times-Picayune. But he praised the paper’s journalists for their “superhuman” efforts to keep reporting on the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina even though many had “evacuated with just the clothes on their backs, uncertain of the fate of families and loved ones.”

The newspaper, which normally has a circulation of about 250,000, is being produced out of temporary offices in Houma, Baton Rouge and other locations. It will be distributed to “metro areas that are now occupied and accessible,” the newspaper said.

Expanded Internet coverage will continue on the website affiliated with the newspaper, www.nola.com.An editor said Web traffic on the site was approaching the 25 million page views a day the site got during Mardi Gras.

The Times-Picayune, owned by Newhouse Corp., told its employees they would be paid in September and October “regardless of whether they perform work,” a news release said.