A Truly Free Press in Mississippi Is Vital to American Democracy
“We believe every Mississippian deserves access to a free and fair press regardless of their economic circumstance,” Kimberly Griffin writes.
“We believe every Mississippian deserves access to a free and fair press regardless of their economic circumstance,” Kimberly Griffin writes.
Duvalier Malone believes democracy is at stake due to voter-suppression efforts and suggests that the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act should pass to rightly protect the voting rights of U.S. citizens.
“Kimberly and I have assembled a team at the Mississippi Free Press who aren’t easily fooled, who believe in difficult proactive reporting, and who report causes and then solutions,” Donna Ladd writes. “Our team is not lured by the two-way horserace model that lets so much vital reporting slip through the cracks and helps ingrain the kinds of public and media ignorance that led us to this moment. We don’t bow to politicians or parties of any stripe, and we work to anticipate the story, not scramble to catch up later.
As someone told me last week in Los Angeles: ‘The MFP model must spread.'”
“I suspect Elon Musk’s desire in buying Twitter goes beyond a desire to control and shape public discourse, ” Media scholar Nolan Higdon writes. “Today’s equivalent of the Gilded Age oligarchs—the handful of super-rich Americans gobbling up increasing chunks of the media landscape—will have that, but they will also have access to a trove of personal data of users and news consumers.”
Working Together Jackson, a nonpartisan organization, responds to the garbage-disposal debate by asking city leaders to immediately approve the contract with Richard’s Disposal.
People are losing faith in democracy throughout the Western Hemisphere. Support for democracy has declined by almost 10 percentage points since 2004. The 2021 round of AmericasBarometer offers important insights into what’s driving declining support for democracy in the region.
Dr. Brian LaPierre, history professor at the University of Southern Mississippi, believes that Vladimir Putin’s aggressive invasion of Ukraine exposes Russia to “potentially crippling warfare.”
Editor Donna Ladd writes that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is showing fearless leadership in the collaborative fight to preserve democracy, just as we have to work together and a fierce devotion to protecting one’s home from fascist control person by person and against great odds. Mississippians need to emulate this spirit to guarantee freedom for all on a local level, she writes.
Duvalier Malone encourages the American people to hold our legislators accountable by participating in local, state and federal elections. He believes democracy is at stake and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act must be passed in order to rightly protect the voting rights of the people.
Mississippi Journalism and Education Group is a a 501(c)(3) nonprofit media organization (EIN 85-1403937) for the state, devoted to going beyond partisanship and publishing solutions journalism for the Magnolia State and all of its people.
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Jackson, MS 39201
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