Robert Mann holds the Manship Chair in Journalism at the Manship School of Mass Communication. Prior to joining the Manship School in 2006, he served as communications director to Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco. He joined the governor’s staff in 2004 after serving 17 years as state director and press secretary to U.S. Senator John Breaux of Louisiana. Before his service on Breaux’s staff, he was press secretary to U.S. Senator Russell Long of Louisiana. He was also press secretary for the 1990 re-election campaign of U.S. Senator J. Bennett Johnston of Louisiana, and communications director for the 2003 Blanco campaign. In 2015, he was inducted into the Louisiana Political Hall of Fame.

In the early 1980s, he covered Louisiana politics as a reporter for the Shreveport Journal and the Monroe News-Star. He has published op-eds and book reviews in numerous publications, including The New York Times, the Boston Globe, Smithsonian, Politico, Vox and Salon. From 2013 to 2018, he wrote a weekly column for the New Orleans Times-Picayune. He is editor of the Media & Public Affairs Book Series, a joint series sponsored by the Reilly Center for Media & Public Affairs and LSU Press.

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