School of Journalism and New Media
Posted on: April 6th, 2021
by ldrucker
Mississippi Today is a strictly non-profit, web-based news organization that brands itself as the political watchdog of the state.
With the Republican party holding a super majority in the state’s elected offices, Mississippi Today often receives criticism as left leaning. While the organization is nonpartisan, it must cover a heavily partisan government.
Mary Margaret White
Mary Margaret White, chief executive officer, credits the editorial staff as the group that brings political balance to each story.
White, who has a bachelor’s degree in English and in journalism, and a master’s degree in Southern Studies from the University of Mississippi, also serves as an advisory board member of the Center for the Study of Southern Culture.
The Marshall Project.
“This year’s winning projects show us the power of justice journalism. As an institution that educates fierce advocates for justice, we are proud to highlight their work,” said President Mason.
“Each of these projects shined a bright light on injustice and inequity and sparked calls for action leading to significant policy changes.”
“For the sixteenth year in a row, The Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation is pleased to recognize the most compelling journalistic examinations of crime, violence, and justice in the United States,” said Foundation President Daniel F. Wilhelm. “Such work is essential to understanding how best to address the challenges our society faces in these important areas.”
Our investigation exposed Mississippi’s modern-day debtors prisons. By The Marshall Project
Reporters Anna Wolfe and Michelle Liu of Mississippi Today have been awarded the 2021 Harry Frank Guggenheim Excellence in Criminal Justice Reporting Award for “Think Debtors Prisons Are a Thing of the Past? Not in Mississippi.” Their year-long investigation reveals how Mississippi locks people into modern-day debtors prisons where they’re sentenced to an amount of money, rather than time. First-of-its-kind data analysis by The Marshall Project’s Andrew R. Calderón shows that black people are disproportionately sentenced to these facilities, known as “restitution centers.”
Wolfe, Liu and Calderón revealed that the people detained in these facilities are placed into low-wage, sometimes dangerous jobs the Mississippi Department of Corrections handles their paychecks and takes the first cut in “room and board” and transportation costs. Since the story was pub