This is today's Clarion-Ledger in Jackson, Miss.; click on the image for a bigger view. Take-no-prisoners reporter Jerry Mitchell discloses an important guilty plea in an unfolding scandal involving rich Mississippi trial lawyer Dickie Scruggs, brother-in-law of former Sen. Trent Lott. Few stories bring more heartburn to publishers and editors than those where the subject is a lawyer, since they can so easily retaliate with costly lawsuits. It's great to see the Clarion-Ledger backing up Mitchell.Mitchell is one of Gannett's most honored reporters for his work bringing Ku Klux Klan members to justice. The bible-quoting journalist learned two important lessons early in his career at The Sentinel-Record in Hot Springs, Ark. "I recognized the power reporters have," he told Mother Jones magazine last year. "The other lesson is persistence. As I've told young journalists, you have to be willing to write about a story until you're sick of it."
Mitchell's work underscores the indispensable role newspapers play as watchdogs of powerful interests. For more on Mitchell, read interviews he gave to American Journalism Review here, and on The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, here.
The Clarion-Ledger at a glance:
- Publisher: Larry Whitaker
- Executive Editor: Ronnie Agnew
- Founded: 1837
- Joined Gannett: 1982
- Employees: 490
[Image: Newseum]
No comments:
Post a Comment
Jim says: "Proceed with caution; this is a free-for-all comment zone. I try to correct or clarify incorrect information. But I can't catch everything. Please keep your posts focused on Gannett and media-related subjects. Note that I occasionally review comments in advance, to reject inappropriate ones. And I ignore hostile posters, and recommend you do, too."
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.