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Not that anyone asked me, but here's my personal take on the unfortunate headline in today's @clarionledger, the effect of companies like @Gannett, and the rivalry of @OleMissRebels and @msstate (full disclosure, I am employed by the latter, graduated from the former) /1
I fully believe that this is on the outsourcing of the layout and production of the paper. The Clarion-Ledger was bought by Gannett ages ago. Slowly at first, and then more rapidly, the local talent was pushed out. Some by layoffs, some by recognizing the change in culture... /2
...some were offered promotions to other papers in the Gannett company. But overall the "local" in "local news" is ephemeral at best (same goes for radio; I worked for Cumulus, who outsourced VO/DJ work. I had colleagues in Hattiesburg MS voicing for stations in Vermont). /3
Now for the elephant (landshark, bulldog, pick your mascot) in the room. The rivalry. Believe it or not, most of the country doesn't care about it. Most of the country doesn't know there are SEVERAL colleges in Mississippi. Hell most are surprised there's ONE. /4
The one they know about? Ole Miss. And folks, the reasons they know about Ole Miss AREN'T GOOD. To most that don't follow football or sports at all, it's the school where two people were killed during riots when they integrated. It's the one in Billy Joel and Bob Dylan songs. /5
And for those outside the South who DO follow sports? Be honest. Name me a former Ole Miss player (probably has the last name Manning). Now name me a State player. You probably think I just asked the same thing twice. /6
(Doesn't help how many guys say "I'm going to the University of Ole Miss" on signing day). If I'm a layout production editor in Phoenix AZ or Asbury NJ and I see a story about two baseball players from a Mississippi school getting statues, where does my brain go? /7
Now, I WILL give you that maybe, MAYBE there is a guy in Nashville that's an Ole Miss guy and he's just trolling. But wouldn't there be a State person out there doing the same the opposite way? Why does it only go one way? My only conclusion is that the vast, VAST majority... /8
...of the US, see Mississippi as a monolith. A racist, bigoted, backward monolith, who elects people who say they'd go to a hanging, whose governor is rumored to be related to Emmett Till's murderer (not true BTW). And Ole Miss, the school who until recently played Dixie, /9
...waved Confederate Flags, and had Colonel Reb for a mascot, fits that stereotype most closely. I wish it didn't. I wish the cowbell was as ubiquitous, that the Landshark was the best known de facto mascot, that people saw Mississippi as diverse in thought and belief /10
...as the Mississippi I know it is (hell as someone who ALSO got a degree at @SouthernMiss I'd love for them to get love too). We are cowbells AND magnolias AND beer showers AND the Sonic Boom AND fighting okra AND running out of milk and bread when we see a single snowflake. /11
If we're gonna get mad about something, let's get mad about WHY Mississippi is seen as a monolith. Let's get mad about our "local" media being outsourced, and our voices being silenced by increasingly corporatized media. Let's get mad at THAT. /12/end
