Earth to Northside Sun, Ledger, etc.: Stop Making Sh*t Up

It is simply remarkable to watch the media in Jackson that lost their mayoral endorsement go to the same tired, *false* well so quickly after Harvey Johnson Jr. won back the mayor’s race in a landslide. Today’s Northside Sun editorial starts out with this: “One reason we suspect Jackson Mayor Harvey Johnson lost four years ago was his claim that crime was a perception rather than a reality.”

Note that the Sun does not actually quote Johnson saying “Crime is/was a perception rather than a reality.” Why? Because they can’t. He did not say this. His police chief did not say this. And anyone who turns what was actually said during his administration about crime “perception”—which was about the perceptions that the media (such as the Sun and the Ledger) pushed that crime was out of control in Jackson, thus pushing out residents, businesses and tax base—has the brains of a third-grader. Or, they are plain liars. It’s time to stop mincing words about this scheme.

The Jackson Free Press spent way too much time debunking this myth that was pushed hard by The Clarion-Ledger especially and, ultimately, helped get Melton elected. (Todd even won a national award for his columns challenging The Clarion-Ledger on this issue, such as this one.) I was at the police briefing where Chief Moore responded to a Ledger reporter’s snide question about crime by actually trying to talk to her intelligently by explaining that the media can make it harder for a community to come together against crime by spreading a “perception” of fear and helplessness. He was, rightly, trying to explain something very basic about criminal justice and public safety to a naive media pool. And they took his words and twisted them, even leaving out part of the quote.

To see local media try this stunt again, after it has been debunked over and over again, is completely disheartening. Worse, it is bad for the city and bad for business. It is irresponsible “journalism” (actually, political posturing). It is as bad as using Morgan Quitno rankings, which the FBI calls “baseless,” as a basis for a political campaign.

But much of the media in Jackson treat the city’s residents with contempt and like we’re stupid, twisting words out of context for sensationalistic and political purposes (the Ledger used its hatchet quote from that press briefing over and over again, regardless of being called out for being wrong by both us and the JPD. They just didn’t care; they had a witchhunt to conduct.)

Folks, we have to demand better from our media, or they are going to pull the same crap over again even as the rest of us try to pull together to build a stronger city and business climate. Don’t let them get away with this. It’s game-playing, and it’s nefarious. At this point, it doesn’t matter who you voted for; it is time to demand that the media in our city grow up and work with the rest of us, not against us. There will be plenty to question and watchdog during the new administration, but making stuff up is simply unethical.

Stop the games, Wyatt. Stop it, Grace and Ronni and Don. Y’all can do better, and you owe it to the community that has supported your papers all these years not to send us down that same imaginary hole once again. Grow up.

Recent Immigration Stories

Opinion | Striking Similarities in Occupied Boston 1768 and Minneapolis 2026

Shackled, Isolated and Pressured to Self-Deport: Makoka Brothers Recount ICE Arrests

Opinion | Federal Agents in Minnesota Are Undermining Basic Law Enforcement Principles

Israel and Max Makoka Are Coming Home After ICE Arrests Galvanized Their Mississippi Community