For definition purposes, "local print/online media newspapers" refers to the Shreveport Times, the Bossier Press Tribune, the Shreveport Sun, the Caddo Citizens, the Shreveport Bossier Advocate, and The inquisitor/FOCUS SB. All of these have printed paper editions other than the online only Shreveport Bossier Advocate.
Public dollars subsidize all these publications.
The Press Tribune is paid major, major bucks to run public notices, ads, and minutes to the Bossier Police Jury, the Bossier School Board, and Bossier City. This revenue probably constitutes more than 50% of the revenue this paper generates.
Until July 1 of this year, the official journal of Caddo Parish was the Caddo Citizen and the Shreveport Sun. Both of these papers ran the same public notices, ads and minutes of the Caddo Commission/Parish. A recent edition of both papers had 21 out of 24 pages of public notices. A very small number of these were minutes etc. of the North Caddo municipalities and fire districts in that issue. Again, major bucks to these papers.
Except for one year when The Inquisitor/Focus SB was the official journal, the Times has always been the official journal of The Times. The same is true for Caddo Schools. And now as of Tuesday July 1, the Times has a trifecta--the official journal of the Caddo Parish Sheriff---Untold major bucks to the Times.
The Bossier Press Tribune is locally owned in Bossier Parish. The Citizen, the Sun, and the Inquisitor/FOCUS are locally owned in Caddo Parish. These four have local employees, a combined total greatly exceeding the local employees of The Times.
The Shreveport-Bossier Advocate is owned by a New Orleans billionaire. The Times/USA Today is a national firm.
The Citizen has confirmed a closing date--shutting the doors--by mid-July. The Sun has not responded to this question. If the Sun continues to print the format, number of pages, etc. will NO doubt be substantially reduced. Without outside funding, the long term future of the Sun is very doubtful.
The Inquisitor/FOCUS SB may be closing its doors after loss of the publication income from the Caddo Sheriff.
I consider the SB Advocate to be publicly funded.
The Community Foundation, a local nonprofit, launders private donations to subsidize the SB Advocate--to the tune of $1.5 million or more. Donors to Community Foundation get tax write-offs/deductions for their donations to the Community Foundation. Donations earmarked for the SB Advocate are then sent to the SB Advocate.
This means private citizens get public IRS/Louisiana tax breaks for money that goes to a New Orleans billionaire.
These are facts. Not sour grapes.