Linda Lightfoot Stepping Down as Editor of Baton Rouge 'Advocate'

By: E&P Staff Linda Lightfoot, a veteran of more than 40 years at The Advocate in Baton Rouge, announced Wednesday that she will retire as executive editor in early 2007.

Doug Manship Jr., publisher of the newspaper, named managing editor Carl Redman as Lightfoot's replacement.

Lightfoot joined The Advocate in 1965 and has been in charge of the newsroom for the past 15 years. "I thought it was time to let other people have an opportunity to lead this newspaper," she said.

Redman, a 25-year veteran of the paper, has served as The Advocate's managing editor since 2001.

Manship lauded Lightfoot for leadership, including her efforts in guarding media access to public bodies in Louisiana. Under Lightfoot's tenure, the newspaper launched numerous legal challenges when denied access to information about public entities.

Pam Mitchell-Wagner, executive director of the Louisiana Press Association, said Lightfoot's dedication to open meetings, public records and First Amendment issues has been "simply invaluable."

Lightfoot said she plans to keep her links to journalism in Louisiana, most likely continuing her relationship with the press association.

Lightfoot joined Capital City Press in 1965 as a reporter for The Morning Advocate's Society section. Later that year, she became a reporter at the State-Times, The Advocate's afternoon companion newspaper, where she covered municipal government, courts, schools and higher education.

Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Lightfoot's work garnered many awards, particularly for her columns covering legal matters and her coverage of school desegregation.

In 1983 she was named chief of the State-Times Capitol News Bureau, and five years later she was promoted to assistant executive editor of both papers. She took the reins as executive editor in 1991. During her tenure she served several times as a judge for the Pulitzer Prize, one of journalism's top honors.