The University of Southern Mississippi, in conjunction with the Scripps Howard Foundation, will soon launch a unique project aimed at advancing community journalism and building up media literacy across southeast Mississippi.
The Roy Howard Community Journalism Center will formally open its doors on Jan. 6. Housed in the university’s School of Media and Communication, the center is funded by the foundation for three years at $1 million a year. Dr. Edgar Simpson, director of the school, wrote the grant proposal over the summer of 2023, and the award was announced later that year. The center’s startup efforts began in early 2024.
The center — with a slogan of “Reporting What Matters” — has several operational goals, said Nichole Cyprian, its founding director. Cyprian, a Southern Miss graduate, returns to her alma mater with years of experience in television news, including time as a news director.
“First, we’ll be a trustworthy source of information for southeast Mississippi residents,” she said.
Cyprian said the center’s journalists will primarily serve 10 counties, including Forrest, George, Greene, Hancock, Jackson, Lamar, Pearl River, Perry and Stone. This region of the Magnolia State, she noted, is largely a “news desert,” or a place with few media outlets.
The center will focus its news coverage on topics that directly impact the lives of area residents, empowering them through accessible, relevant and trustworthy information, Cyprian said.
“We’ll have three full-time reporters in the field telling these important stories,” she said. “One reporter will work from our Hattiesburg bureau, located on the main university campus, and one will report from the Gulf Park campus in Long Beach. Another reporter will cover issues affecting southeast Mississippi residents in the state Legislature and across state government, and they’ll work from our bureau in Jackson at Mississippi Public Broadcasting.”
Newsroom operations will be led by Managing Editor Whitney Argenbright, another Southern Miss graduate. Also a former TV news director, Argenbright will lead multiplatform storytelling efforts. The center’s reporting will feature written stories as well as audio and video reports.
Cyprian said these stories will be shared to the center’s website and will also be distributed to media outlets for their use.
“Another one of our goals is to help existing media outlets better serve their communities,” she said. “We aren’t looking to replace local media outlets. Instead, we want to help them expand their coverage abilities.”
Students will be integral to the mission and work of the center, Cyprian said. Each semester, the center will hire student staffers, including Southern Miss undergraduate and graduate students, students from other universities in the state, community college students, and high schoolers.
“Students will work in paid positions, or they can complete internships, volunteer their time or even earn class credit through practicums,” Argenbright said. “Our student employees will be essential to our success, working and gaining experience as reporters, social media and website managers, photographers, videographers, researchers and more.”
In addition to providing original reporting, the center will also have an educational component, which will help citizens spot disinformation and misinformation, recognize media bias, identify credible news sources and intelligently analyze content.
“Our media literacy efforts will include a ‘I Am Media Savvy’ certification course, educational events, community listening sessions and more,” Cyprian said. “We’ll also run a ‘What is True?’ service, where the public can call or email in information that they think may be misleading or false. We’ll vet the information and share our results within one to two business days.”
These community education and outreach efforts are headed up by Community Liaison Joshua Wilson, a former newspaper editor and public relations practitioner.
“Unfortunately, because of a lack of media literacy, false information is flourishing,” he said. “I think the center’s efforts in that arena will be highly rewarding and incredibly valuable.”
Cyprian said the excitement surrounding the center is encouraging.
“So many people are invested in the center’s success and are excited about its potential,” she said. “We’re incredibly grateful for the Scripps-Howard Foundation’s grant to Southern Miss, and we’re thankful for a supportive university administration and an active advisory board that is guiding our progress.”
The advisory board includes representatives from the university and the foundation as well as media partners at Mississippi Today and Mississippi Public Broadcasting. Trade associations, including the Mississippi Association of Broadcasters, the Mississippi Press Association and the Mississippi Scholastic Press Association, are also represented on the board.
The center is named in memory of Roy Howard, a journalist and media executive who is widely credited with helping shape modern journalism.
“Mr. Howard was known as a champion of innovative reporting, and we’re excited to launch our community journalism center that bears his name,” Cyprian said.
Other foundation-funded centers, also memorializing Roy Howard, are located at Arizona State University and at the University of Maryland.
Learn more about the Roy Howard Community Journalism Center at www.rhcjcnews.com.