[Publisher’s Note]  The Little Weekly That Could

by Todd Stauffer
September 20, 2006

We celebrate a milestone with the issue of the Jackson Free Press that you hold in your hand, as it's the first issue of our fifth year of publishing. We're 4! It's been quite a ride from our start as a small bi-weekly upstart to our current incarnation as a mid-sized (and growing!), award-winning, story-breakin' weekly publication and a daily news-driven Web site. And we hope, a positive media force in the Jackson Metro community. We certainly couldn't have gotten to this point without dedicated readers, advertisers and—increasingly—the citizen journalists who call to give us tips and participate via our Web site.

Looking back on the previous year, we've got a lot to be proud of, from the six AAN awards we received (one a first place, for short-form news, awarded to reporter Adam Lynch) to the opportunity we've had to shine in gathering exclusive news—we were the first to offer ComStat numbers, in early 2006, after many months of silence from the City, making our readers aware of the rise in crime over the last nine months, and we were the only media outlet in town that was able to present Donna Ladd's unique, in-depth coverage of Mayor Frank Melton, both through her Q&A series and her gripping "ride-along" narratives.

Most recently, we're extremely proud of having broken the story of the year so far—Adam Lynch first reported the Ridgeway Street incident in a detailed story on Friday, Sept. 1—before any television station had even run a promo about the story, much less reported it—and two days before The Clarion-Ledger got around to writing anything in their newspaper about it. And kudos to Adam for sticking with the story after his initial report, in spite of the fact that he had a motorcycle accident a few days later when a driver pulled out in front of him and he, as he put it, "ate hood." Fortunately he came out of the accident with only bumps and bruises and lived to report another day.

Praise should be heaped on Managing Editor Brian Johnson, as well, who has had to take on quite a few additional reporting duties during this time. We have a small reporting team, and when news round-the-clock coverage, it takes all hands on deck, including Brian and Editor-in-Chief Donna Ladd. In fact, on the day Melton's indictments were handed down, Brian, Donna and Adam were all out covering press conferences and getting reactions while I sat by the phone, typing up reports they called in. It harkened back to the heyday of competing newswire services, with breaking stories going out over telegraph—except that they were calling in stories to be posted to our Web site which experienced a sharp increase in traffic all last week.

Meanwhile, former and current staffers continue to bring kudos to the JFP family—most notably, former Assistant Editor Casey Parks has begun her trek to Africa with New York Times columnist Nick Kristoff, where she's documenting her utterly fascinating experiences in some of the least traveled parts of Africa. It's behind the Times' subscription firewall, but they do offer some short-term trial memberships that might be worth it.

Likewise, Assistant Editor Natalie Collier received a scholarship to attend the weeklong "Covering Race and Immigration" seminar at the Poynter Institute in Florida last week. We're proud of her and look forward to getting more excellent work from her as a result.

It's become a tradition for our birthday issue every year to focus on success in Jackson, and this week is no different. Finally, it seems that the King Edward is on its way, and we're thrilled to see that progress in downtown. Of course, it isn't the only project going on downtown. In fact, some of what's planned may surprise you—see Adam's story beginning on Page 14.

Also in this issue, Brian Johnson takes a look at the rather bizarre missive by The Clarion-Ledger's publisher, John Newhouse, to which the Mississippi Independent Publisher's Alliance has published a response that you may have already seen on Page 2 of this issue.

The other media issue this week was something that disappointed me personally, when I happened to turn on the WLBT 10 p.m. report this past Friday night. During their broadcast, Maggie Wade said twice—once in the "toss" and once in the "banter" with reporter Andrew Hasbun—that Hasbun "broke" the story about Mayor Melton's alleged antics on Ridgeway Street.

Now, I know this may sound like inside baseball to some folks, but that claim is really an affront to hard work that was done by reporter Adam Lynch, who, without a doubt, reported that story first late Friday afternoon. A WLBT report did follow at 10 p.m. that same night (in fact, someone from WLBT came on the JFP Web site to promote their upcoming report prior to the broadcast), and they certainly beat all other mainstream media in Jackson to the punch.

Yes, we may only be 4 years old, and maybe our little newsweekly doesn't have the same "reach" of WLBT—but that doesn't mean we don't have professional journalists who are working their tails off. They deserve credit for their accomplishments, and while I don't imagine WLBT will correct themselves on the air, I certainly hope they can get the story straight from now on … you know, particularly when they start doing those sweeps-week promos about all their annual accomplishments!

Which brings me back to my promo about our annual accomplishments. (Ahem.) I'd like to thank our readers for sticking with us, mentioning us to advertisers, talking to our distribution locations and for all the great feedback, both uplifting and constructive. If you haven't yet, please stop by our Web site and become part of the ever-growing conversation online.

What does the fifth year have in store? Look for some exciting tweaks to our print product over the next few months, and expect even more dramatic new changes to the Web site—centered around citizen journalism, as well as some new entertainment resources—within a matter of weeks.

Thanks, Jackson, for your attention and your interest. Here's hoping our fifth year will be our biggest and best yet!

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