Mississippi Today

Mississippi Today is a nonprofit news organization based in Ridgeland, Mississippi. It was founded in 2016 by former NBC chairman Andrew Lack.[1] [2] It is focused on watchdog journalism related to Mississippi's state and local government, economy, environment, public schools and universities, and criminal justice system.[3]

Mississippi Today
Type of site
Nonprofit
Available inEnglish
HeadquartersRidgeland, Mississippi
OwnerDeep South Today
Founder(s)Andrew Lack
EditorAdam Ganucheau
CEOMary Margaret White
URLmississippitoday.org
LaunchedOctober 2014 (2014-10)

History

Mississippi Today started publishing in 2016.[4] Its owner and parent nonprofit, Deep South Today,[5] was formerly called Mississippi News and Information Corporation.[3] It incorporated in 2014 and received 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status in 2015.[3] Its founders aimed to compensate for dwindling local news coverage in the state.[5] Former NBC chairman Andrew Lack, a longtime journalist, founded the organization; he is a New Yorker, but his mother was raised in Mississippi.[5]

Mississippi Today is a nonprofit journalism organization.[5] It is supported by grants from foundations, including the Knight Foundation and the Ford Foundation, the Overby Center for Southern Journalism and Politics at the University of Mississippi, and via tax deductible contributions from donors such as Jim Barksdale, Archie Manning, and former Mississippi governors Haley Barbour and William Winter.[6]

Deep South Today formed a sister website, New Orleans-based Verite,[5] in 2022.[7]

Personnel

The organization has a small staff,[5] including editor-in-chief Adam Ganucheau, a former reporter at the Clarion-Ledger, and CEO Mary Margaret White.[8] Marshall Ramsey, an editorial cartoonist, is the publication's editor-at-large.[8] In 2023, the staffers unionized through the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians, and management agreed to recognize the union.[5]

Awards

Mississippi Today has won awards for its journalism from the Mississippi Press Association, the Online Journalism Awards, and the Sidney Award from the Hillman Foundation in both 2020 and 2022.[9][10][11] Mississippi Today investigative reporter Anna Wolfe won a 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting for their investigation of the Mississippi welfare funds scandal; their reporting showed that at least $77 million in federal funds had been embezzled from the program (the largest such scandal in Mississippi history).[12][13]

References
  1. David Bauder. "NBC News chairman an unexpected figure behind nonprofit Mississippi news organization". STLtoday.com. Associated Press. Retrieved 2021-09-12.
  2. "Mississippi Today". American Journalism Project. Retrieved 2022-07-16.
  3. "About Us". Mississippi Today. Retrieved 2022-07-16.
  4. "Mississippi Today, backed by an NBC exec, aims to be the Texas Tribune of its undercovered state". Nieman Lab. Retrieved 2022-07-16.
  5. Will Sommer, A small news site won a Pulitzer for its Brett Favre scoop. Now it's unionizing., Washington Post (July 27, 2023).
  6. "Who Funds Us?". Mississippi Today. Retrieved 2022-07-16.
  7. Verite to launch nonprofit newsroom focused on New Orleans, Philanthropy News Digest (July 28, 2022).
  8. "Our Staff". Mississippi Today. Retrieved 2022-07-16.
  9. "News organizations, journalists honored for editorial excellence". Mississippi Press Association. 2022-06-22.
  10. "Mississippi Today Award-Winning Work". Online Journalism Awards. Retrieved 2022-07-16.
  11. "Wolfe & Liu win February Sidney for Exposing Mississippi's Modern Day Debtors Prisons". Hillman Foundation. 2020-02-12. Retrieved 2022-07-16.
  12. Today, Mississippi (2023-05-08). "Anna Wolfe and Mississippi Today win Pulitzer Prize for "The Backchannel" investigation". Mississippi Today. Retrieved 2023-05-08.
  13. "Anna Wolfe of Mississippi Today, Ridgeland, Miss". www.pulitzer.org. Retrieved 2023-05-08.
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