Journalist with experience in Vietnam joins Sun Herald to cover Coast minority communities
The Sun Herald staff is thrilled to announce the addition of a new reporter, Isabelle Taft, to cover South Mississippi’s diverse minority communities as well as COVID-19 issues.
We are working with the nonprofit initiative Report for America to fund a portion of the reporting position.
The GroundTruth Project, a national service nonprofit, started Report for America in 2017 to strengthen democracy through journalism as newsroom budgets shrink.
Nationwide, Report for America on Thursday announced the selection of 225 journalists for its 2020 reporting corps. The new class will be placed with more than 160 local news organizations across 45 states and Puerto Rico. Report for America is supported in part by the Knight Foundation, which has a long history on the Gulf Coast.
Taft is a graduate of Yale University and has interned at Politico, The Texas Tribune and the Sacramento Bee.
She worked for a year as a copy editor in Vietnam and is currently a researcher at The Washington Post.
Taft will spend a year with the Sun Herald, with the possibility her tenure could be extended for an additional year.
“We could not be more excited to bring a journalist of Isabelle’s caliber to South Mississippi,” said Sun Herald Executive Editor Blake Kaplan, explaining that minority populations are often underrepresented in news stories from our area.
Taft, working with experienced newsroom mentors from the Sun Herald, will be tasked with building connections and producing stories relevant to the Vietnamese, African American and Hispanic communities, among others.
These reporting positions come at a time when local journalism is already reeling from years of newsroom cuts and unforeseen challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.
RFA will support a portion of the reporter’s salary through a grant. Kaplan said the Sun Herald will seek additional community support to pay the remainder of the salary.
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This story was originally published April 23, 2020 at 10:09 AM.