On this episode, Mark Simon is joined by publisher Donna Ladd and senior reporter Ashton Pittman of the Mississippi Free Press, a non-profit media outlet that has published a considerable amount of important reporting about the state.

Donna and Ashton talked about the origin of the site and multiple stories that they’re working on. The most prominent of those is a series of pieces following racist e-mails sent by prominent people at the University of Mississippi (including the dean of the journalism school) and the ramifications for whistleblowers who alerted the media to the e-mails. They also talked about the challenge of covering state government, which is a republican supermajority.

Donna and Ashton also answered questions from Emmy Liederman, a graduating senior at The College of New Jersey and provided advice for students hoping to pursue a career in the field.

After the interview, Mark and Emmy reviewed the key points that Donna and Ashton made, and Emmy continued our Women’s History Month tribute and our regular feature on former journalism professor Bob Cole.

Thank you for listening. Please rate and review the podcast if you can. You can e-mail us at journalismsalute@gmail.com or contact us on Twitter at @journalismpod.

Important Links

The Mississippi Free Press website

The Mississippi Free Press Twitter

Donna Ladd Twitter

Ashton Pittman Twitter