Guide
Overview
Louisiana's largest newspaper is the Times-Picayune in New Orleans, which merged with the New Orleans Advocate in 2019 and now publishes with the Advocate in Baton Rouge and the Acadiana Advocate in Lafayette under one company. The Shreveport Times, the American Press in Lake Charles, the News-Star in Monroe, the Town Talk in Alexandria, the Daily Advertiser in Lafayette, the Houma Courier and the Daily Comet in Thibodaux cover their regions, and the Louisiana Illuminator covers state government online.
Louisiana newspapers carry the legal notices state law requires in each parish's official journal, publish obituaries for 64 parishes, and hold court coverage that pairs with the parish clerks of court, since Louisiana has no statewide court case search.
Official sources on this page were checked on September 25, 2026.
Guide
Louisiana Newspapers
Find local and statewide newspaper publications for Louisiana. Access news, sports, classified, entertainment, and archived articles.
Guide
Major Louisiana newspapers and what they cover
The Times-Picayune and the Advocate cover New Orleans, Baton Rouge, the legislature, the Louisiana Supreme Court and the federal courts, and their combined back issues from the 1830s onward are in the digital archives. The Shreveport Times covers Caddo and Bossier parishes and the Ark-La-Tex, the American Press covers Calcasieu Parish and the petrochemical corridor, and the News-Star covers northeast Louisiana. Each parish designates an official journal, so weeklies such as the Bogalusa Daily News, the St. Tammany Farmer, the Sabine Index and the Teche News carry every sheriff's sale, succession notice and police jury ordinance for their parish.
Guide
Historic Louisiana newspapers online
The Louisiana Digital Library, run by the state's library and university consortium, offers free digitized Louisiana newspapers, and Louisiana titles from the territorial period onward, including French language papers, appear in Chronicling America through the Louisiana Digital Newspaper Project at LSU. The State Library of Louisiana in Baton Rouge holds newspaper microfilm for every parish, and the New Orleans Public Library provides free access to the Times-Picayune archive with a library card. The Historic New Orleans Collection holds early New Orleans titles.
Guide
Legal notices, public notices and obituaries in Louisiana
Louisiana law requires each parish to designate an official journal in which sheriff's sales, succession notices to creditors, name changes, tax sales, police jury and school board proceedings and municipal ordinances must be published, and the Louisiana Press Association collects those notices in a statewide search. Obituaries run in the Times-Picayune and the Advocate for south Louisiana and in the regional papers elsewhere, and the New Orleans Public Library keeps an obituary index. Court coverage is especially useful in Louisiana because case records live with each parish clerk of court rather than in one state system.
Guide
Browse Newspapers by State
Straight answers
Louisiana Newspaper Directory, questions
What is the largest newspaper in Louisiana?
The Times-Picayune in New Orleans, which merged with the New Orleans Advocate in 2019 and publishes with the Advocate in Baton Rouge and the Acadiana Advocate in Lafayette.
What is an official journal in Louisiana?
The newspaper each parish designates for its required legal notices, from sheriff's sales and succession notices to police jury proceedings. The Louisiana Press Association collects them in a statewide search.
Where are historic Louisiana newspapers online?
The Louisiana Digital Library and Chronicling America offer free digitized titles, including French language papers, and the State Library holds every parish on microfilm.