Louisiana Illuminator
The Louisiana Illuminator is an independent, nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization driven by its mission to cast light on how decisions are made in Baton Rouge and how they affect the lives of everyday Louisianians, particularly those who are poor or otherwise marginalized. Here readers will find in-depth investigations and news stories, news briefs and commentary, all of which is intended to help them make sense of how state policy is crafted, how it helps or hurts them and how it helps or hurts their neighbors across the state. Notwithstanding the way political reporting is often presented, we see politics as neither sport nor entertainment. There are quality-of-life consequences — even life-and-death consequences — to environmental permitting decisions, to health care policy, to income- and sales-tax rates, to budgetary cuts and to economic development plans. For those reasons, the Illuminator does not cover politics in a way that centers on politicians, their squabbles with one another or their career ambitions. Instead, we center on Louisianians from Ouachita to Calcasieu, from Plaquemines to Caddo who must live with the decisions their political leaders make. Though we’re located in Baton Rouge, we understand that the ramifications of decisions made in our capital are felt across the state and that those stories are often best told in cities, towns and parishes far from the halls of power. As our name indicates, our mission is to shine a bright light on Louisiana, to highlight the state’s successes and its examples of good and responsive government and to expose its failures and corruption.
