Jackson Jambalaya

 The Mississippi Press Association, celebrating its 160^th anniversary, held a forum highlighting local journalism last week at History Is Lunch in the Two Museums. MPA vice president Peter Imes, publisher of the Commercial Dispatch in Columbus, spoke of the vital role local journalism “plays at the grassroots level in our democracy” as he welcomed the panel.

Charles Overby, chair of the Overby Center for Southern Journalism at Ole Miss moderated. Panelists included professional journalists Natalie Perkins from the Deer Creek Pilot in Rolling Fork, Jamie Patterson from the Yazoo Herald in Yazoo City, and Anita Lee from the Sun Herald in Biloxi.

Discussion focused on local journalism’s importance as a community storyteller, watchdog, and public-information source.

All three speakers agreed local journalists provide essential benefits other media sources do not: preserving and documenting community stories with context and history; serving as watchdogs over local elected officials and government operations; covering routine civic life (city councils, school boards, etc.), and producing community-focused features that resonate locally.

Perkins noted the critical role her small newspaper played in communicating with local people after an E4 tornado struck. “We continue to tell the story,” she said, and “we’re the only ones that give a rip about Sharkey County.”

“Being a person that they go to church with or see in the grocery store or at the Little League field,” Patterson said lets local people “know that I have just as much stake in the community as they do.”

The panelists also agreed on the persistent threats to local journalism from social media misinformation, ad revenue losses to online media, and audience shifts, particularly among young people, to free online platforms.

“I’ve been very concerned about that for a while now,” said Lee, “and I try to do my little part, which is like spitting in the ocean, to assure people that I’m a real journalist. This is what I do and this is how I do it….So I just hope people are discerning and careful about what media they consume.”

Panelists expressed concern that local journalism is "in trouble" as staffing shrinks and dailies become bi-weeklies. But they remain optimistic if dedicated professional journalism persists and communities support local news outlets. Lee stressed the latter, lamenting that people don’t realize their local news source is going to go away one day if local support dries up. They will have to depend upon social media alternatives that lack professional standards and commitments to fairness and transparency.

“I feel so horrible for those communities that are kind of in news deserts that don’t have those newspapers and don’t have those watchdogs. That's scary,” concluded Patterson.

“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge”– Hosea 4:6.

Crawford is an author and syndicated columnist from North Jackson.