There was a time in the not-to-distant past when both Monroe and Shreveport had afternoon papers. New Orleans and Baton Rouge had competing papers. Diverse political opinion was prevalent.
About the late 70s and early 80s, along came Gannett. Their patented method of driving out their competition worked.
Like the giant squid in Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, Gannett has had a suffocating chokehold on information distribution in much of Louisiana. The (Shreveport) Times, The (Monroe) News-Star, The (Alexandria) Town Talk, The (Lafayette) Advertiser and the (Opelousas) Daily World have for years told the public only what they saw fit to tell. If you were politically conservative or believed in smaller government, forget about your side of the argument being presented.
Government is good and more taxes are always the answer to any problem, they believe. Their Baton Rouge Capitol Reporter, Mike Hasten, has been tagged by Moon Griffon as “Deputy Press Secretary for ALL of Government.”
Those days are just about over.
As in the movie, the recent layoffs are like the electric shocks that loosened the creature’s grip on the Nautilus. All that’s left now is for Ned Land to deliver the harpoon between the monster’s eyes.
