THE MISSISSIPPI PRESS ASSOCIATION

By Charlie Mitchell

For nearly 70 years, the common goals of journalism educators at the University of Mississippi and the Mississippi Press Association have been nurtured to the benefit of both.

The MPA dates to 1866. It is the sixth oldest press association in the United States and perhaps the oldest in the South. Its original mission was to foster and encourage continued development of the state’s commercial newspaper industry. That mission, though diversified by the addition of Mississippi Press Services and the Mississippi Press Association Education Foundation, continues unchanged.

Journalism at Ole Miss is much younger, dating only to 1946, when the degree field was added to the School of Business. It later was moved to the College of Liberal Arts and became the degree-granting Meek School of Journalism and New Media in 2009.

While journalism at Ole Miss, like the MPA, has enjoyed continued growth, a core mission of the school — sparking the careers of effective, truth-centered communicators — has remained unchanged.

“The University of Mississippi owes its primary duty to the sons and daughters of Mississippi taxpayers who save and sacrifice so their children are offered educational opportunities,” said Will Norton, dean of the Meek School.

“We don’t forget that. For students here to serve internships or participate in special projects with Mississippi newspapers is a great plus for them. For them to work for Mississippi newspapers after graduation is something by which we measure our success as a school.”

Since being appointed as inaugural dean of the new school, Norton has visited dozens of the state’s newspapers, large and small, usually with Layne Bruce, MPA executive director. The reason is to gauge how the school is doing and, more specifically, how the university can improve service to the state’s press.

“MPA and its members have been blessed with a strong and active relationship with the journalism school at Ole Miss,” Bruce said. “We are indebted to the administration and faculty for being such strong supporters of journalism. Their role in cultivating the next generation of great writers and thinkers is a vital component of community journalism.”

Work of the Jackson-based staff of the MPA is multifaceted, with much of the day-to-day operations centered on Mississippi Press Services, created in 1977 as a not-for-profit business subsidiary.

Indeed, S. Gale Denley, a weekly newspaper publisher and respected faculty member at Ole Miss, was instrumental in designing and creating MPS. Denley knew that national and regional advertisers would appreciate the “one-stop shopping” aspect of MPS, which accepts and places display and classified ads statewide as customers direct.

Denley, who was an MPA board member and served the organization as president, became a fixture in the organization and at Ole Miss, where the Student Media Center was named in his honor.

Another prime connection between the journalism school centers on MPA’s Government Affairs Committee and the Mississippi Center for Freedom of Information, based in the Meek School.

Creating a “good government” entity with a base broader than the state’s newspaper industry was the idea of 1997 MPA President Dan Phillips. As publisher of The Oxford Eagle, Phillips knew the state would be well served by clear and generous open meetings and open records laws. But he also knew that if only journalists lobbied for improvements, the chances of success were slim.

Initially, the MCFOI was operated from Jackson, but it was eventually domiciled on the Ole Miss campus. With Jeanni Atkins of the Meek School faculty serving as executive director, the organization continues to be supported by media and non-media individuals and entities. It has worked with MPA Government Affairs every year, especially during the legislative session, and the result has been many improvements in access laws, in leading seminars for local officials and in administrative enforcement.

MUTUAL SERVICE

Through the decades, Ole Miss has gladly served as host to regional events for MPA members and has provided faculty experts to serve as speakers and panelists for a multitude of MPA-sponsored clinics, workshops and conventions.

Perhaps the most frequent guest in recent years is Samir “Mr. Magazine TM ” Husni, who has appeared at dozens of MPA events to update members on industry trends and, more recently, to assist members

who have chosen to add magazines to their publications offerings. The Meek School also has offered faculty members to speak on a wide range of topics, ranging from basic news and feature writing to website design, social media and the latest techniques in photojournalism.

Likewise, MPA has been a source of constant support to journalism education at the University of Mississippi, primarily through the Mississippi Press Association Education Foundation.

Of prime importance to students directly are the MPA scholarships many Ole Miss students have been privileged to receive, but the ongoing MPAEF Grants for Services program also has meant much to the school. These competitive grants have allowed the school to expand its inventory of cameras, software and computers for student use.

Additional and very meaningful benefits for Meek School students are the summer internship stipends awarded to aspiring journalists selected to work at one of 120 MPA-member publications. Today, few internships pay students, but MPA member publications offer compensation plus the stipends, which are a significant help to those starting out.

Although student journalists at Ole Miss like to enter their work from The Daily Mississippian into the professional Better Newspaper advertising and editorial compensations, the annual O.C. McDavid Conference in Jackson has been a great resource for students and many have entered and won prizes in this statewide competition for college writers, designers and photographers. COMBINED VENTURES

In addition to the more longstanding service initiatives, the birth of the Meek School has brought with it a couple of mutual initiatives.

Each year since 2010, Meek School students have left campus for “weekend reporting.” MPA members decide on a package of stories and photos they would like to have, and the students research, interview, shoot and write — often generating extra material for websites. Projects have been diverse, centering on downtown redevelopment in Hattiesburg, profile edition copy in Brookhaven, tourism in Vicksburg and health care in Greenwood.

There is no cost to the member newspaper other than a meal for students. The Meek School and the MPA have shared payment of remaining costs. The members get the copy and photos. The students are energized by a real world experience and, for many, their first credit and bylines.

Another offering has been the stories and photos gathered by the Meek School’s annual depth reporting classes. Each spring, a topic is chosen and when the package is complete, the students’ work is offered to all MPA members to use if and how they desire. Again, there is no cost to members, and students are rewarded with clippings.

For the future, discussions are under way to create spring internships for journalism students in the state capital. Students selected for these projects would cover state government, including the Legislature, and be a resource — writing exclusive stories or just running down quotes and answers to questions for member newspapers. DOWN THE ROAD

The Meek School attracts aspiring journalists from throughout the nation. Specifically, nearly half of journalism undergraduates are nonresidents, which mirrors the university population overall. But, as he said, Dean Norton believes that the school’s success is measured in large part how well the press in Mississippi is served by its programs as well as its graduates.

To that end, the Meek School has created a new track in its master’s in journalism program for early- or mid-career professionals. The track is designed to help journalists polish or enhance their storytelling skills while gaining familiarity and specialized abilities for the multiple platforms that consumers now use when they seek news and information.

And the school also is working in the pre-college arena to ramp up the work of the Mississippi Scholastic Press Association to encompass not just traditional high school newspaper and yearbook operations, but also their magazines and Internet programs.

Part of this includes adding more scholarships to the Meek School for high school journalists, offering seed grants to encourage more high schools to create media studies programs and products and offering merit grants and technology grants to assist the Mississippi schools with media programs to expand and innovate. The author is assistant dean of the Meek School and an assistant professor.