Noise and Notes: Sarah Durand's Tea Party and The Louisville Paper

The Tea Party appears stronger than ever with Republican primary victories for Senate in Missouri, Texas and Indiana most recently.

It is a movement that has been successful in defeating establishment incumbents, pulling GOP leaders further to the right and gaining a seat at the table. This week it was announced that Tea Party favorite Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., has a keynote speech at the Republican National Convention.

But Tea Party groups and activists have been criticized for their views and blamed for the current gridlock in Congress.

I spoke with Louisville Tea Party President Sarah Durand about compromise, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell and what it’s like leading such a forceful—and controversial—group.

The Louisville Paper is a publication that reports “positive” neighborhood news, and it’s proud to have survived a year in business.

It has been a rough time for print media with budget cuts and staff layoffs, and even daily newspaper cutting their publishing dates. Earlier this year, the New Orleans daily newspaper The Times-Picayune announced it was going from daily to three days a week.

And the bad news is spreading.

From the Willamette Week:

The Oregonian as a daily newspaper is facing a final deadline.

The 162-year-old newspaper—once considered one of the nation’s best—is losing readers and advertisers in a state where it dominated the media landscape for decades.

Soon, the newspaper may no longer be publishing every day of the week.

The newspaper’s New Jersey-based owner, Advance Publications Inc., has declared it is moving to a Web-based model and publishing schedules are likely to change at many of its newspapers.

I talked with the Louisvlle Paper’s founder Matt Dobson and editor Stephanie Brothers, along with LEO Weekly editor Sarah Kelley, about the future of print.