AAN News

Jackson Free Press Editor Donna Ladd Named Kellogg Community Leadership Network Fellownew

Over the course of her 3-year fellowship, Ladd aims to develop a template for youth media projects around the country that enable underprivileged kids to report on their communities and tell their own stories.
W.K. Kellogg Foundation  |  05-14-2014  4:00 pm  |  Honors & Achievements

Jackson Free Press Website Re-Boot Nets Increased Traffic

The relaunch has improved the quality of the JFP's search results, the layout and responsiveness of story pages, and given editors improved ability to post photo galleries, videos, audio and documents in support of their news and entertainment reporting. (FULL STORY)
JFP  |  08-13-2012  11:00 am  |  Press Releases

Southeast Alt-Weeklies Win Green Eyeshade Awards

Miami New Times, Jackson Free Press and The Memphis Flyer each received first-place Green Eyeshade awards from the SPJ southeastern division. (FULL STORY)
AAN  |  06-19-2012  12:20 pm  |  Honors & Achievements

Jackson Free Press News Editor Wins EWA Scholarship

Jackson Free Press news editor Elizabeth Waibel recently won a scholarship from the Education Writers Association. (FULL STORY)
Jackson Free Press  |  05-01-2012  2:12 pm  |  Honors & Achievements

Green Eyeshade Awards Honor 3 Alt-Weekliesnew

Miami New Times, The Memphis Flyer and Jackson Free Press took several awards during the recent Green Eyeshade Awards.
Green Eyeshade Awards  |  07-06-2011  4:23 pm  |  Honors & Achievements

Jackson Free Press Editor Donna Ladd Receives Fannie Lou Hamer Award

Jackson Free Press co-founder and editor Donna Ladd was one of "six exceptional individuals" who received a Fannie Lou Hamer Humanitarian Award on Friday. The awards, given out by Jackson State University's Fannie Lou Hamer National Institute on Citizenship and Democracy, go to people who "have been instrumental in modeling a civil society" in Mississippi. (FULL STORY)
Fannie Lou Hamer National Institute on Citizenship and Democracy  |  04-18-2011  8:12 am  |  Press Releases

JFP Wins 3 First-Place Reporting Awards, Second for 'Two Lakes' Work

At its 60th annual Green Eyeshade banquet near Atlanta, Ga., the Society of Professional Journalists awarded the Jackson Free Press three first-place reporting awards. (FULL STORY)
Jackson Free Press  |  10-05-2010  3:55 pm  |  Press Releases

Four AAN Members are Finalists in SPJ Green Eyeshade Awardsnew

The Society of Professional Journalists has named the finalists for the 60th annual Green Eyeshade Awards, a regional competition open to news organization in 11 southeastern states. Miami New Times has six finalists in six categories and the Memphis Flyer has six finalists in five categories, while the Jackson Free Press is a finalist in four categories and New Times Broward-Palm Beach is competing in three. Winners will be announced at a banquet this summer.
Green Eyeshade Awards  |  05-27-2010  9:07 am  |  Honors & Achievements

Gannett Quietly Closes Distribution Network in Jackson

A few years ago, threatened by media giant Gannett's attempt to control local print distribution via The Distribution Network (TDN), the Jackson Free Press and other local publishers banded together to form the Mississippi Independent Publishers' Alliance (MIPA). MIPA then began a process of buying, placing and managing its own system of multi-publication news boxes around the city. Now it looks like MIPA's efforts paid off. JFP publisher Todd Stauffer tells AAN News that the Gannett-owned Jackson Clarion-Ledger has quietly picked up all their TDN boxes and apparently closed out their program. "I'm not sure if this is a trend company-wide for Gannett, but it looks like the 'control-free-distribution' chapter is no longer in the Gannett playbook for Jackson," he says. (FULL STORY)
AAN News  |  12-10-2009  3:02 pm  |  Industry News

Gannett Redefines the Meaning of a 'Local' Businessnew

Last week, Jackson Free Press became one of the 22 AAN papers that have published a version of Stacy Mitchell's story on "local washing," the phenomenon in which large, national corporations don the figurative garb of natives in order to co-opt the "buy local" movement. JFP editor Donna Ladd wrote a column in the same issue placing Gannett's ShopLocal(TM) squarely in the local-washing camp. Yesterday, Patrick Flanagan, the senior director of product management for ShopLocal(TM), answered JFP in a blog post purporting to "clear up the confusion around the meaning of 'local'", which he defines in a way that manages to include every bricks-and-mortar business in America, including CVS and Wal-Mart. So, according to Flanagan (whose post also caused collateral damage to the term "hyperlocal"), all shopping is local as long as it's done in a physical store.
Jackson Free Press  |  08-05-2009  1:44 pm  |  Industry News  |  Comments (2)

Jackson Free Press Launches 'JFP Daily'new

Earlier this month, the alt-weekly launched a daily e-blast that will feature one full story along with listings and other timely content, like profiles of musicians or authors who have appearances that day. The Daily, which has the catchy slogan "Today's News...Today," will be published each day at 1 pm. "It's been twenty years since Jackson had an afternoon daily," publisher Todd Stauffer tells the Greater Jackson Chamber Partnership (pdf). "We thought it would be interesting to revive that tradition, but starting from the ground up using 21st Century technology."
Jackson Free Press  |  07-30-2009  12:42 pm  |  Industry News

Jackson Free Press Adds Editorial Staff and Increases News Coveragenew

While daily papers and alt-weeklies across the country are being forced to cut staff and salaries in this tough economy, the Jackson Free Press is bucking the trend by adding a full-time editorial position. Ward Schaefer, a former public-school teacher, joined the paper this week as a reporter on the news beat. The paper says it is also increasing the daily news coverage on its website.
Jackson Free Press  |  01-07-2009  11:49 am  |  Industry News

How I Got That Story: Donna Ladd

In the ninth installment of this year's "How I Got That Story" series, Jackson Free Press editor Donna Ladd discusses her award-winning feature on the Seale family, which has long ties to the Ku Klux Klan, but has tried to ameliorate its past. She talks to St. John Barned-Smith about how they found the story, how her upbringing in Mississippi informs her work, and how she connects with her sources. "I find the best way is to just have absolute interest in what they're saying," Ladd says. "I have no judgment when I'm sitting in front of someone. I am a sponge. (FULL STORY)
AAN News  |  10-16-2008  1:18 pm  |  Association News

How the Jackson Free Press Built an Uncommon Alt-Weekly Audiencenew

The JFP has "resurrected the alt-weekly tradition of maverick investigations and cultural provocation," Casey Sanchez writes in Next American City magazine. In doing so, "it has cultivated an audience uncommon in the South and practically nonexistent among alt-weeklies -- young, white conservatives and black professionals, many of whom are lifelong Jacksonians." Editor Donna Ladd says the paper's dogged coverage of City Hall has helped build a loyal following. "Any cover with the mayor on it doesn't stay on the stands more than a day," she says.
Next American City  |  08-26-2008  11:11 am  |  Industry News

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