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 great local university. Presently, this is not true.
The Advertiser is not locally owned. It is part of the Gannett system, which is headquartered in Virginia.
When The Advertiser was locally owned, there was a symbiotic relationship between the newspaper and the community where both parties benefited. This led to the newspaper being named the official journal of the city of Lafayette and other cities within the parish.
The great benefit of being the official journal of most governments in the parish was that all the official notices required by law to be published went to The Advertiser at a considerable cost.
It is obvious to me that The Advertiser as we once knew it is no more.
Most of its writers and reporters have moved to The Acadiana Advocate. The Acadiana Advocate is owned by a Louisiana native, and it robustly covers our local government, school system and university.
As a sports-minded individual, I am always looking for coverage of UL teams. A look at The Advertiser website under sports shows over 20 articles on LSU. For UL, the most recent article you see is about our football recruiting. This is unbelievable when we have nationally ranked baseball and softball teams presently competing.
Why then are we giving our tax dollars to a newspaper that disrespects our university and our community?
I am urging every governing body in Lafayette Parish to make The Acadiana Advocate its official journal. If it takes getting some of our elected representatives in Baton Rouge involved, then call them.
ALBERT M. KARRÉ JR.
Lafayette