Battle of the brands: A newspaper war in New Orleans

NEW ORLEANS – The pirate flag hanging in the New Orleans Advocate's office in downtown is something of an inside joke – a hammy reminder of the startup paper's unlikely insurgency against its entrenched competitor, The Times-Picayune.

Other symbols of the year-old paper's inchoate status are of the more banal variety – the unkempt entrance, desks crammed into an office no bigger than a McMansion living room, one unisex restroom serving the entire staff.

Seven blocks away, the Picayune's new headquarters boasts the aesthetics of a well-funded dotcom. The loft-style newsroom occupies the penthouse floor of a commercial high-rise with a ground-level mall. With large windows encircling the office, the staff has a gorgeous view of the Mississippi River.

"We wanted to create a new culture and environment, and we wanted a physical space to facilitate the changes," says Ricky Mathews, president of NOLA Media Group, which publishes the Picayune.

More at http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2014/01/27/new-orleans-newspaper-war/4580561/ .