In her first two weeks as the Mississippi Free Press’ Gulf Coast Bureau reporter, Amy Schafer has already been on the ground covering a major story that has garnered national attention and a tropical storm.
A graduate of Pennsylvania State University’s Schreyer Honors College, Amy joins us as part of a partnership with Reporter for America to expand our coverage to reach communities all across Mississippi. We’re excited to have her leading the start of this new bureau on the Coast, where she’ll report on working-class perspectives, immigrant communities, the effects of climate change on coastal communities and so much more.
Since we launched in 2020, our ambition for the Mississippi Free Press has always been to build a newsroom ecosystem that is truly statewide—not just centralized in Jackson and focused on the goings-on at the Capitol. Mississippians in every part of the state deserve journalism from reporters who are embedded in and work to really understand and connect with their communities.
Amy joins a growing team of bureau reporters who are making this goal a reality across the state, with Grace Marion in our Capital Region Bureau (focused not only on the capital city, but the outlying counties, towns and rural areas) and Jaylin Smith as our Delta Bureau reporter. Kevin Edwards, our assistant editor, is also based in and helping with reporting from the Delta. While we do not yet have a full-time reporter in Mississippi’s East Central region, intern Kylia McKoy is reporting on the ground there for the summer.
We’re not stopping there. Our goal is to continue building out these bureaus, eventually with reporters and editors in all of them. Our plan is to start bureaus in North Mississippi, Southwest Mississippi, the Golden Triangle and the Mississippi Pine Belt.
When we say we want to be a statewide publication for all Mississippians, we truly mean it. You can help us bring these plans to fruition by donating to support our nonprofit newsroom. Click here to give what you can to invest in Mississippi’s future and bring caring, people-focused journalism in every part of the state.
This MFP Voices opinion essay reflects the personal opinion of its author(s). The column does not necessarily represent the views of the Mississippi Free Press, its staff or board members. To submit an opinion for the MFP Voices section, send up to 1,200 words and sources fact-checking the included information to voices@mississippifreepress.org. We welcome a wide variety of viewpoints.
Mississippi Free Press stories are always free because we believe everyone should have access to quality journalism. Donations from readers like you make that possible. Please click here to give to help sustain and grow vital, people-over-power journalism for Mississippians.
Readers can sign up for our free newsletters here.
