Let this sink in. After election, we will lead a serious conversation at @MSFreePress about public servants abdicating responsibility to be transparent or answer questions about things in purview. When whole state is run by statement/not real questions, our state is in trouble.
Huge problem is that journalism outlets here have allowed public servants (elected or not) to reduce real interviews to ask real questions into "send us questions and we'll get attorneys to do/approve a general statement." This is irresponsible, and media should not accept it.
This is major reason my publications do not provide questions in advance. This is not accountability (or real) journalism, period. We have high-paid PR people at state universities who think they can demand this. Media who allow it are engaging in access journalism, which stinks.
An extension of that is we do not do "email interviews" (which aren't interviews, btw; you don't even know who you're really talking to). We'll ask for or check a fact in email, and give interview topics, but no list of questions.
I always assume that people, and not just elected officials, who insist on releasing statements in lieu of doing real interviews may well have something to hide, so they refuse to actually answer questions in real time.
Plus, Mississippi has a useless press association that is all about pleasing the usual power suspects. It's not like their lobbyist is going to stand up for real transparency in Mississippi. It's sad.

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More from @DonnerKay

30 Oct
1. So proud of @11_mcgee and @slimmm__32 for quickly organizing a wonderful Mississippi Trusted Elections Solution Circle of people from around the state to discuss voting concerns and solutions. Super-engaged group included a poll worker! Thanks to @AmPress for support. Image
2. MFP will report fast on what we learned in tonight's on our growing Mississippi Trusted Elections site of voting news, essays and some remarkable statewide voting infographics with data you won't find all in one place anywhere else. Visit and share: mississippifreepress.org/voting/
3. Jarius Smith (@slimmm_32) is our voting solutions circles coordinator; @MSFreePress will host more circles post-election to start voting solutions process now, not in 4 years. Email voting@mississippifreepress.com to get on the circles invitation list. We need your voice!
Read 4 tweets
29 Jun
No, Sen. Sojourner. Every level of Miss. govt (yes, #msleg), police and white businessmen of Citizens Council conspired in the violence then. Americans for Preservation of the White Race (APWR) started in YOUR town of Natchez and paid Klansmen legal fees. mississippiencyclopedia.org/entries/americ…
I've gone through news archives in Natchez and Meadville when worked on jfp.ms/deemoore. That's how I learned about APWR (Franklin County newspaper editor big in it, attorneys, etc.) What many don't know is businessmen would meet and decide whether/when to invite Klan in.
In fact, Sen. Sojourner, I talk about Americans for the Preservation of the White Race and editor David Webb a bit in this piece during James Ford Seale trial thanks to library archives. Not exactly a "fringe" network.
Read 10 tweets
4 Jan
Thread: Let’s be honest about Parchman and other prisons in Mississippi. Most people simply don’t care about conditions and corruption. Cedric Willis, a falsely accused man released after years there told us the realities back in 2006: m.jacksonfreepress.com/news/2006/jul/…
2. all the political posturing about gangs being responsible is dumb bullshit. Cedric explained in 2006, as have @BennyIvey1 and others have told me since, that prisoners must split into “brotherhoods” for protection and survival especially since many guards are dirty. Cedric:
3. More Cedric on guards’ abuse at Parchman:
Read 26 tweets
2 Nov 19
1. Thread: Stellar pieces by my small-but-mighty
@JxnFreePress reporting team from last week: First, State reporter @ashtonpittman does the kind of indepth campaign reporting you don’t find elsewhere in Mississippi. Read current cover story. #MSelex #MSgov
@JxnFreePress @ashtonpittman 2. City reporter @SeymaBayram0 brought us the second installment in her #smartjustice series on Hinds County (and state) criminal-justice system, this one on weak indigent defense in our state. I'm learning so much I've never seen reported in her series. jacksonfreepress.com/news/2019/oct/…
@JxnFreePress @ashtonpittman 3. Investigative fellow @nickjudin did his first magazine piece for us on what the Glenn Boyce/#IHL controversy says about academic freedom at the University of Mississippi. Wonderful writing, interviews and deep reporting. He has quite the source base. jacksonfreepress.com/news/2019/oct/…
Read 24 tweets
10 Dec 18
Irony of this tweet is museums teach reality of the reason for secession and Civil War clearly — slavery. And the party switch over race.
Gov. Bryant is apparently member of Sons of Confederate Veterans who gave him award named after secession guv. From Miss History Museum:
(Check back here for a thread of relevant museum pics/receipts mid-day. Gotta go to physical therapy!)
Read 22 tweets
25 Nov 18
For 16 years, our goal for @jxnfreepress has been to talk up to Mississippians, assume you're smart enough to handle, use real history, believe in the power of information to help lift our state off the bottom, tackle systemic racism and help improve relations between our ppl. 1/
It's almost funny that Hyde-Smith response was to call us "liberal"--the same old playbook always used against truth and new ideas in the South. Those of us who want a new, improved state are expected to run from those folks. But so many Mississippians are standing OUR ground. 2/
Our goal has always been deep, history-grounded journalism that doesn't shy away from difficult truth. Folks like Hyde-Smith think they can cavort w SCV, battle caps, rebel flags on football fields, and nobody shld notice the symbols of white supremacy. It time to notice. 3/
Read 13 tweets

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