From Dixie Mafia to DMR, I’ve told Coast’s story for 3 decades. Now I need your help.
The Sun Herald has been speaking truth to power on the Mississippi Coast for 135 years and counting.
I joined that effort more than 33 years ago, returning to my home state from a journalism stint in Virginia. I planned to stay five years on the Mississippi Coast, but Biloxi became home.
I love living here and covering the Coast, whose people and communities offer a diversity found nowhere else in Mississippi. But the Sun Herald staff, including me, need your help in these challenging economic times to continue working as the public’s watchdog.
The newspaper business, already suffering before COVID-19 hit, is going through more layoffs. Some communities are even losing local newspapers, lifelines to democracy that chronicle our daily struggles and triumphs.
Exposing corruption, illuminating issues
Over the years, my reporting led to the closing of a government-owned nursing home in Harrison County where I documented longstanding abuse of the elderly residents; exposed political corruption that allowed the Dixie Mafia to gain a foothold, leading to unchecked crime and murder; and, more recently, detailed the state’s powerless position in decisions to open the Bonnet Carré Spillway that fouls our marine ecosystem with Mississippi River water.
Today, journalists at the Sun Herald are focused on covering all aspects of the unprecedented new coronavirus pandemic.
I’ve been sitting in on Gov. Tate Reeves’ weekday news conferences and, early on, put into context his decision to hold off on a shelter-in-place order until after cities, including some on the Coast, issued their own restrictions to protect residents.
More people than ever are reading our coverage. Advertising dollars, especially now, do not support us as they did when print dominated and the Internet was in its infancy.
Now, the web gives us unique new ways to bring you the news. Print subscriptions, which come with digital access, and digital-only subscriptions are a crucial component of our business model. We hope you will subscribe.
We lowered the internet paywall for access to our novel coronavirus coverage because journalism is, first and foremost, about public service. Our daily COVID-19 updates and other crucial coverage remain free.
We did the same after Hurricane Katrina, when we won journalism’s highest honor, the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service.
And we will doubtless do the same in future times of crisis. Our readership increased more than 175% in the pandemic’s first month. But we still have journalists and bills to pay.
We hope you will consider helping with a donation to our COVID-19 Local News Fund through a Givebutter campaign. We know most businesses, including ours, are struggling right now. But we also have faith that our communities continue to value strong, independent and in-depth news coverage.
Journalism is our calling, not a paycheck
We are bringing on another reporter who will help with coronavirus coverage and bring you many other stories from the unique minority communities that define the Mississippi Coast.
Isabelle Taft comes to us from national nonprofit Report for America, started in 2017 by The GroundTruth Project as a way to support democracy through journalism in a time of shrinking newsroom budgets.
You can ask that your contribution specifically support her work or help with our general news operation. Our journalists not only cover South Mississippi, they are your friends and neighbors.
We all want to see the Coast prosper. If you are in a position to help us, we appreciate it.
Journalism is for us a calling, not a paycheck. The First Amendment, a core tenant of our democracy, supports and upholds our work. We never forget that.
We are, above all, devoted to a quest for truth, whether covering the death of a beloved community member, bringing you helpful lists of openings and closing during the COVID-19 pandemic or exposing corruption in a public agency.
Thank you for your support. We couldn’t do our jobs without you.
Support the Sun Herald today by making a donation to our Coronavirus Reporting Fund at givebutter.com/sunherald. All donations will directly fund the newsroom and its journalists.
This story was originally published May 13, 2020 at 4:00 AM.
