I remember when the Lafayette Daily Advertiser was locally owned. They covered our local government and school system, but most of all they covered our amazing local universities. At this time, this is not true.
Advertisers are not locally owned. It is part of Gannett Systems, headquartered in Virginia.
When The Advertiser was locally owned, there was a symbiotic relationship between the newspaper and the community, with both sides benefiting. This led to the newspaper being named the official journal of the city of Lafayette and other cities in the parish.
A great advantage of being the official newspaper of most governments in the diocese was that all official notices required by law to be published were sent to advertisers at considerable expense.
It's clear to me that the advertisers we once knew are no more.
Most of the writers and reporters transferred to the Acadiana Advocate. Acadiana Advocate is owned by Louisiana natives and provides solid coverage of local governments, school systems, and universities.
As a sports-minded individual, I am always looking for coverage of UL teams. If you look at the articles under sports on his website in The Advertiser, you'll see more than 20 of his articles about LSU. In the case of UL, the latest article you'll see is about recruiting football players. This is incredible considering the nationally ranked baseball and softball teams currently competing.
So why do we funnel our tax dollars to newspapers that disrespect our universities and communities?
I urge all governing bodies of the Diocese of Lafayette to make the Acadiana Advocate their official newspaper. If you need to involve your elected officials in Baton Rouge, call them.
Albert M. Carre Jr.
lafayette
