Motivated solely by curiosity I asked a long-time respected (now retired nuts & bolts) reporter in Monroe, Louisiana, recently if the media there had covered the still exploding scandal involving the hierarchy of the Louisiana State Police and the Governor’s alleged “stacking” of the LSP Commission which acts as a kind of Civil Service Board in order to allegedly protect the top people at LSP accused of various improprieties. Coverage of this has occupied a lot of television air time in south Louisiana for the past week or so along with plenty of space in the major newspapers in that region of the state. Herewith, a verbatim transcript of that conversation:
Me: “Has the Monroe media reported ANY of the Louisiana State Police Scandal?”
Retired newspaperman: “Not only NO, but HELL no!”
Me: “Why do you suppose that is?”
Retired newspaperman: “There really are no local media left.”
I’d mark that as a sad commentary for an area the size of Monroe-West Monroe which boasts three network-affiliated television stations, a Gannett daily, and at least two community-oriented weeklies. It’s enough to make you wonder if this is the kind of thinking that could put northeast Louisiana back behind the infamous “cowhide curtain.”
—Email received by LouisianaVoice from retired Monroe investigative reporter Ken Booth, now living in Arizona.
Louisiana Voice 
SAD!
I’ve heard The ADVOCATE (both editions) and nola.com are about it anymore and that is sad. I know the story has gotten some coverage on the CBS television affiliate in Shreveport, KSLA – They carried Lee Zurik’s report I believe and they often carry them.
A former staffer of mine spent her Mardi Gras holiday back home in Shreveport. She told me that her father, a retired bankruptcy court judge and his workout group, had not heard or read anything about it. They must have missed the CBS affiliate’s coverage.
Speaking with people I know who live north of I-10, 2-3 years ago, they knew nothing about the goings-on in state government and had no idea why some people were displeased with jindal. These were intelligent people, who lived in two different north Louisiana cities with Gannett papers. I turned them on to LouisianaVoice, C.B. Forgotston (may he rest in peace), Bob Mann’ s blog and CenLamar (a hometown personality for one of these people) – then sat back and listened to the outrage.
Even if our hometown daily or weekly paper is a sad caricature of what news is supposed to be, we can read anything, anywhere, online.
One of the saddest declines ever is the Alexandria Daily Town Talk. It used to be a force in political reporting, with a correspondent or two at the Capitol fulltime. Now it’s just Gannett.
Where is the Ouachita Citizen in West Monroe? Sam Hanna Sr. and Jr. was/is known to be bold and unafraid to take on the big stories. Unless it’s just not being picked up because The Advocate scooped it?
Gannett has turned the Opelousas and Lafayette papers into ad circulars with a few local stories, filled with errors because they got rid of the local reporters with years of experience and local knowledge and hired out of state kids who work for less.
Clark, don’t feel bad. I would bet you that the BR Advocate is just as bad when it comes to errors.
Monroe news star doesn’t cover any good news. You should investigate and see what they are covering up about the 4jdc. The citizen covers way better than the newsstar. That’s a story in itself… Who is keeping the NS from covering impt. News stories the public needs to know ?
Mary Ann Riddle
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Kathy Spurlock recently retired as publisher and, perhaps, managing editor of the News-Star. Since then, the editorial page mostly could be USA Today, which is the source of half the editorials. I think I’ve seen one authored locally. They have so far continued the mix of conservative/liberal columnists, which I like, but I wonder what the contracts are behind them. The sports are still local, which they have to be in NELA.
There are still some real newshounds scattered around the state, but I’m not sure how much time and allowance they have to dig deep.
This is why no one wants to subscribe to the newspaper. It’s also why blogs like yours are so important.
Not only is there no responsible media in NE Louisiana, the lack of responsible media in this nation (present company excepted) is woefully lacking. Even those with ‘public trust’ simply justify themselves and refuse to report facts because of their own political agenda.
The Alexandria Gannett rag is now published in Lafayette, then, transported to Alexandria for distribution causing a minimum of one day delay. Saturday college sports come out on Monday. To the best of my knowledge, I read the rag daily, the LSP scandal has not been reported. I read the rag daily, due to no other paper being available in the area. It is good to line the bottom of bird cages. The old article of JBE and the Colonel going to Rome, was reported a week ago.
An article about President Trump’s address to congress, on Tuesday, was published on page 3A on Thursday March 2, 2017, of which the majority was negative about what the president said.
Why isn’t this being reported state wide? I’ve contacted 2 local news stations. Of course they say there are bigger things to cover lol. How can we get this news out state wide so everyone can have a opinion? (North La)