2026 Mississippi Community Journalism Workshop

Melissa Milios Davis, Director of Grantmaking, Press Forward; and Lucy Schultze, Strategist & Facilitator, Press Forward Mississippi

Hear brief takeaways from our cross-sector conversations on Wednesday, centered around the future of local news in Mississippi.

Mississippi newsrooms share the local stories that mattered to their audiences and how they told them in ways that stretched beyond everyday reporting cycles. This “how we did it” topic was suggested through feedback from our 2025 workshop.

Ed Simpson, Ph.D., Professor, University of Southern Mississippi School of Media & Communication; and Debora Wenger, Ph.D., Professor, University of Mississippi School of Journalism & New Media

Hear the latest trends being signaled in academic research around journalism, and what these new insights may mean for Mississippi’s local news practitioners.

Mississippians are working together to develop the next collaborative ideas that can move local news forward — stemming from Press Forward Mississippi’s three areas of interest and aligned with values of the nationwide movement.

Get up-to-speed on what’s in motion, and see which efforts you may want to help inform or take advantage of:

• Network Matching Challenge: Interested in learning how to add local philanthropy as a newsroom revenue stream? This pilot program will give you a chance to try it — with training, support and a 3:1 match for new dollars raised locally.

• Training Community Storytellers: Wishing you had more local people who could contribute to your outlet’s reporting? Learn about a fledgling initiative to use Mississippi community colleges as a training ground.

• New Business Models: What is the new model for sustainable local news in small-town Mississippi? How do legacy newspapers plan for the transitions they need to make? Hear where we are on these critical questions.

• Growing the Next Generation: How will you connect with young people who may become tomorrow’s local reporters? Hear from the people shaping your pipeline starting at the high school level.

Please note any dietary restrictions when you register.

The Roy Howard Center for Community Journalism at Southern Miss and leaders from its sister Scripps centers in Maryland, Arizona and Memphis, Tenn., share tools and workflows they have developed for use in local newsrooms.

In Session 5, leaders will present 15-min. overviews of what their tools do and how newsrooms can use them. Then, during the Demonstration Fair, you can choose which tool or workflow you’d like to see demonstrated.

• Community Engagement — Nichole Cyprian, Director, USM Roy Howard Center for Community Journalism

• Investigation — Mark Greenblatt, Executive Editor and Professor of Practice, Howard Center for Investigative Journalism, Arizona State University

• AI Tools for Reporting — Sean Mussenden, Ph.D., Director & Executive Editor, Howard Center for Investigative Journalism, University of Maryland Philip Merrill College of Journalism

• Open-Source Sourcing — Meghnad Bose, Assistant Professor of Practice and Coordinator of MA in Open-Source Investigative Reporting, University of Memphis

See demonstrations and ask questions of the presenters from Session 5. This time can also be used for intentional conversations and collaborative planning.