BATON ROUGE – Owners of The Advocate, the Baton Rouge-based newspaper chain which covers all of the I-10 corridor in Louisiana, announced they purchased the historic Times-Picayune newspaper in New Orleans and its popular companion website, NOLA.com.

The announcement was made Thursday afternoon.

The Advocate owners John and Dathel Georges purchased the other news outlets from national media company Advance Local Media, LLC.

The Advocate will publish a seven-day, home-delivered newspaper in New Orleans using the brands and features of both publications. The new paper will debut in June. New Orleans newspaper readers will access the papers through a merged website under the NOLA.com, a spokesperson said.

“New Orleans has never lost its love for a daily newspaper,” John Georges said. “I want to thank Advance Local for working with us to ensure a strong print and online news company for years to come.”

The Georges purchased The Advocate from WBRZ in 2013.

The Advocate has specialized, local newspapers in Baton Rouge, Lafayette and New Orleans and recently won the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting, the first in its history.

The Advocate will expand its New Orleans news, advertising and circulation staff by hiring from current Times-Picayune employees and will increase its coverage of suburban communities, sports and arts and entertainment.

The Advocate was already the state’s largest newspaper prior to the purchase.

A purchase price was not disclosed.

Current subscribers and advertisers of The Times-Picayune will be contacted in the coming weeks while the staffs of both papers work towards a seamless transition. Subscribers who get both papers will have their subscriptions to The Advocate extended.

The changes do not impact The Advocate’s operations in Baton Rouge, the newspaper said. 

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