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Daily Mississippian editor selected for New York Times Corps

Posted on: October 10th, 2022 by ldrucker

The editor-in-chief for The Daily Mississippian has been selected to participate in a New York Times journalism program designed to mentor young journalists.

Rabria Moore was chosen to be part of The New York Times Corp, a talent-pipeline program for college students to receive career guidance from NYT journalists over a multiyear period.

Rabria Moore

Moore was one of 20 young journalists selected from among hundreds of applicants. The students will be paired with a Times adviser, with whom they will meet two or three times a year throughout their undergraduate careers. Those conversations will focus primarily on career-building advice. Moore will also have the opportunity to learn from speakers and other activities.

“In the program, I receive mentorship from a New York Times reporter,” Moore said. “My mentor is Steven Lee Myers. He’s a foreign and national security correspondent, currently based in California (https://www.nytimes.com/by/steven-lee-myers).”

Moore said she was excited to learn she had been selected.

“I applied for this program because I think mentorship is important, and I wanted to specifically have a mentor from a national news organization to help me navigate and break into the journalism industry.”

Moore is pursuing a dual degree in political science and journalism with a news-editorial emphasis while leading The Daily Mississippian staff. She is also a member of the UM chapter of the Association of Black Journalists, one of the Ole Miss Ambassadors and a member of the Columns Society.

“In terms of career goals, I see myself first as a political journalist, covering politics,” she said. “After some experience, I’d like to become an international journalist.”

Andrea Hickerson, director of the School of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of South Carolina, as well as associate dean and professor, is the new dean of the UM School of Journalism and New Media. Hickerson is a respected researcher, educator and administrator whose vision for the school involves preparing students to succeed in an evolving modern media landscape and deal with ongoing technological and social changes. Submitted photo

Andrea Hickerson, Ph.D.

Andrea Hickerson, Ph.D., professor and dean of the UM School of Journalism and New Media, said Moore is a wonderful leader who consistently shows initiative for learning and creating new opportunities for herself and others.

“For example, if it weren’t for Rabria, we wouldn’t be hosting New York Times opinion editor Kathleen Kingsbury,” said Hickerson. “Rabria connected with her and her team at NABJ (the National Association of Black Journalists conference).”

Kingsbury is set to speak at the UM School of Journalism and New Media Thursday, Oct. 13.

“The NYT Corp will give Rabria another opportunity to showcase and build her talents,” Hickerson said. “She will create a large, well-connected professional network that I expect will look out for her in the future.”

Larz Roberts

Larz Roberts, director of the S. Gale Denley Student Media Center, said Moore is sharp.

“It doesn’t take long to realize that she has the potential to go as far as she wants,” he said. “She has the tools to take whatever practical experience and opportunities (are) coming her way and take full advantage. This one is no exception. And this is a huge opportunity to boot.”

Moore hopes to gain more insight into journalism by participating in the NYT program.

“My ultimate goal is to become an international journalist, so I’m really happy to have Myers as my mentor,” Moore said. “I’ve learned a little bit about him and his time as a journalist, and I hope to gain more knowledge about the field from him. The New York Times is also one of my favorite news organizations, so learning from reporters who’ve worked there is definitely something I’m looking forward to.”

The Times Corps is meant specifically for students from underrepresented groups in journalism, such as students of color and/or students from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds, according to the NYT website about the program. Access to quality career guidance stands as a critical challenge to many students seeking to be journalists. Applications will open again in spring 2023.

Along with The New York Times Fellowship and The New York Times Editing Residency, the Times Corps seeks to develop a deep and diverse talent pool, both for The Times and journalism at large.

To see the full list of NYT Corps members: https://www.nytco.com/press/introducing-the-inaugural-members-of-the-new-york-times-corps/

LaReeca Rucker wrote this story.

Daily Mississippian sports editor will pursue sports communication career in NYC

Posted on: May 5th, 2022 by ldrucker

Orlando native Catherine Jeffers has had a stellar academic career and earned a Taylor Medal for her hard work. After serving as sports editor for The Daily Mississippian – one of the few women who has ever done so – she plans to move to New York City to pursue a career in sports communications.

She is just one of the school’s 2022 graduates who shared her Journey to Commencement.

Jeffers earned a dual degree in journalism and integrated marketing communications with minors in English and business. She was also a member of the Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College and Delta Gamma.

“I’ve always had a strong passion for media writing, storytelling, and good communication, which led me to study journalism and IMC,” she said. “I’ve always had the desire to move to New York and start my career in communications.

“A goal of mine is to work in professional sports on the comms side, or work for an agency that works with athletes. I’m still currently applying for jobs, but I hope to move to the city after I graduate in May and land an entry-level position in communications.”

Debbie Woodrick Hall, a University of Mississippi School of Journalism and New Media instructional assistant professor of integrated marketing communications said Jeffers is a “lifetime learner.”

“For her Honors College thesis, she analyzed 50 years of Title IX and its impact (and sometimes lack of impact) on women’s sports,” Hall said. “She was always very open to suggestions offered by Professor Cynthia Joyce, Professor Vanessa Gregory, and me. She is a confident young woman who has been an excellent student while in the IMC/journalism programs at Ole Miss. I expect great things from her.”

Dennis Moore, student media editorial director, said Jeffers had not worked on The Daily Mississippian staff before being named Sports Editor last year, but she led The DM’s team of sports editors and writers like a seasoned pro from day one.

“With her guidance, coverage of men’s and women’s sports was equally celebratory and critical when warranted, which gained readers’, players’ and coaches’ respect,” Moore said. “In the newsroom, she was invariably smart, efficient, positive and insightful — and never reticent about offering suggestions to improve content beyond sports coverage, as well, but doing so in a way that did not make her colleagues defensive.”

On his first day as editorial advisor in The DM newsroom, Moore said Jeffers asked for his help with a sensitive story.

“I learned quickly that collaborating with her would be a pleasure — not only on that story but also on every subsequent story,” he said.

Jeffers said she was “floored” when she received an email that she had been nominated for a Taylor Medal, the highest academic honor a student can receive at Ole Miss. It recognizes outstanding academic performance and is given to no more than one percent of the student body.

“I remembered going into the (Student Media Center) and telling a few of my coworkers and friends who let me know how important the honor was to even be nominated,” she said. “After I submitted my application after nomination, I remember how proud I was of myself to even be thought of as a potential medalist. When I received the email that I was selected as a Taylor Medalist, I was still shocked.”

Jeffers said she is proud of all that she has accomplished at UM.

“It is rewarding to be recognized for it all,” she said. “I’m very humbled to be honored alongside my peers, and I can’t wait to see all that they achieve after graduation.”

This story was written by LaReeca Rucker.

University of Mississippi journalism alumna fights for women in the workforce

Posted on: April 21st, 2021 by ldrucker

Ole Miss graduate Ashley Miles has come a long way from selling advertising for The Daily Mississippian. The founder and CEO of Franklyn West, a business consulting firm, is now on a mission to help women succeed in the workforce.

Miles, who earned her journalism degree in 2005, is also the current president of New York Women in Communications (NYWICI). One of her first initiatives was launching a project called “Women Heard” to address pandemic job loss among women.

“I see an enormous opportunity across the country and the industry to help propel women forward,” Miles said. “Currently, in a post-pandemic world, women will not recover for two years from this job loss. That’s four times slower than men.”

Ashey Miles

According to a National Women’s Law Center statistic on the NYWICI website, as a result of pandemic-related job loss, “more than 2.3 million women have left work entirely, putting women’s participation rate in the labor force at 57%, the lowest it’s been since 1988.”

The “Women Heard” initiative includes a national study in partnership with Meredith Corp, Bloomberg and FCB, to determine why the pandemic led to disproportionate job loss for women specifically and how women can be better supported going forward.

“I would feel accomplished if we built mass awareness around the issue and brought women back to a reimagined workplace, by deeply understanding her pain points,” Miles said.

As a mother and a prominent businesswoman in the communications industry, Miles is passionate about the success of women, but she said she hasn’t let her gender define her career. When asked if being a woman has had an impact on her success, Miles said, “Yes and no. The facts are that there are challenges to being a female business leader, but I never let that stop me from pursing my dreams of helping businesses and leaders reach their full potential. I embrace my unique qualities and focus on driving results.”

Miles encourages women to “try not to focus on what’s not working in our favor, block out the noise, dream without bounds and take action.”

Miles spoke recently to students in the School of Journalism and New Media’s integrated marketing communications program about some of the things that have helped her succeed. She said she gives “so much credit to both my experience in the journalism school at Ole Miss and my advertising sales and marketing experience with The Daily Mississippian.”

Many of the students in the audience will graduate in May, and Miles left them with some encouraging advice, “From a mindset perspective, anything is possible. This is an amazing time to invent yourself in corporate America.”

This story was written by Leah MacFarland.

University of Mississippi journalism grad Payne selected for national POLITICO Fellows program

Posted on: January 29th, 2021 by ldrucker

Daniel Payne started work this month as a POLITICO Fellow. Payne graduated in May 2020 from the University of Mississippi School of Journalism and New Media. He was in the Honors College, a Taylor Medalist, and editor in chief of The Daily Mississippian, where he led a staff that won national journalism awards. He participated in Lens Collective and had a summer internship at a Washington news website. Following graduation, he was executive editor of The DeSoto (MS) Times-Tribune.

The POLITICO Fellows program offers four journalists an opportunity to work on teams throughout the newsroom reporting full time on politics and policy. The 12-month professional fellowship also includes a robust training component and work on enterprise reporting projects on policy areas with disproportionate impact on underrepresented communities. Upon successful completion of the program, each fellow is invited to a full-time reporting role at POLITICO.

Daniel Payne at his desk in Washington.

“Daniel is foremost a thoughtful journalist who has demonstrated serious commitment to his craft,” said Robin Turner, director of editorial diversity initiatives at POLITICO. “In addition to his solid journalism chops, he demonstrated strong leadership in pushing The DeSoto Times-Tribune toward a digital-first approach as the weekly newspaper’s executive editor. In addition to his compassionate approach to serving his community, Daniel impressed our selections committee with his aggressive accountability reporting on the pandemic, his role in redesigning the newspaper, his work on newsletters, and in his savvy, but responsible social media skills.”

Turner said that Payne, as a graduate of the University of Mississippi who hails from Tennessee, also offers a geographic perspective and background that often go missing in D.C.-area newsrooms. “In short, Daniel is a talented, creative and innovative contributor with fresh insight that any newsroom would welcome.”

Turner, who designed the professional fellowship with the support of POLITICO’s Editor in Chief Matt Kaminski, said that fellows are “full colleagues from Day One.”

“Daniel will be embedded as a reporter on two editorial teams and will learn how POLITICO launches new products. We are pleased that all of our fellows – those who have served previously, and those now serving as professional fellows – know they are respected and valued team members. They also help advance POLITICO’s editorial mission for delivering strong, independent and credible journalism on politics and policy – and with diverse voices and perspectives.”

Grad students Lucy Burnam and MacKenzie Ross caught up with Payne as he started his new job this week and asked him a few questions:

Q. Daniel, why did you apply for the fellowship?

A. I have always enjoyed POLITICO and the work that comes from its newsroom, especially all the work they do innovating digital journalism. When I saw that they would be bringing two fellows on board in January, I knew I had to apply.

Q. How do you feel about being a reporter in the nation’s capital in 2021?

A. I’m very excited about it. I think, especially over the last year or so, people have focused more on the importance of understanding how policies and politicians affect day-to-day life in the U.S. That makes the job of reporting important stories all the more exciting.

Q. How did your journalism and Honors classes, and your work at The Daily Mississippian, prepare you for this fellowship?

A. My experience at UM has been foundational in preparing me for this fellowship. I feel that, though I still have a lot to learn through professional experience, I’m ready to get to work in the world of journalism. The experience I got at The Daily Mississippian has proved to be monumental in my understanding and practice of reporting and editing. I can’t imagine being able to get this fellowship without the real-world education I got at the Student Media Center.

Q. What do you hope to learn from this fellowship?

A. I hope to sharpen my reporting and writing skills, and I also hope to learn about the diversity of opportunities available to someone who wants to report on politics. POLITICO has journalists working in many unique niches of politics and policy reporting, and I think working with different people who have different interests will give me a wealth of perspective on journalism today and my future in the field.

Here is the press release from POLITICO about the new Fellows:

POLITICO Announces Inaugural Class of The POLITICO Fellows

ARLINGTON, Va. — POLITICO today announced its inaugural class of The POLITICO Fellows, a competitive professional fellowship program that offers four enterprising journalists a front-row seat covering the biggest storylines dominating Washington.

The POLITICO Fellows program, which just began this week, seeks to empower journalists seeking to advance their careers in political and policy journalism. POLITICO is pleased to share that Jonathan Custodio, Anna Kambhampaty, Marissa Martinez and Jonathan “Daniel” Payne emerged from an outstanding and competitive applicant pool impressing the selections committee with their strong journalism skills, entrepreneurial spirit and unique contributions to newsroom diversity.

“The POLITICO Fellows builds on our strong commitment to develop newsroom talent as we deliver authoritative, independent politics and policy coverage with diverse voices and perspectives,” said Robin Turner, director of editorial diversity initiatives for POLITICO. “Our incoming cohort includes four very talented journalists, each with the demonstrated ability to lead teams, innovate and break news even beyond U.S. borders. We are proud of all of our fellows – past and present – and are pleased to partner with the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) in identifying and preparing these emerging newsroom leaders.”

The 12-month program will train professionals and provides a unique opportunity to cover the White House, Congress and policy areas such as health care, trade, technology and finance. Reporting opportunities will include in-depth exploration of how key policy issues disproportionately impact underrepresented communities.

“NABJ is proud to partner with POLITICO in creating this critical pipeline of diverse journalists who will become the next generation of political reporters. Now more than ever, it is important that people who represent Black and Brown communities are leaders in reporting on the government and policy issues that impact communities of color every day. We look forward to the dynamic work that will come from the 2021 cohort and extend our support to each of them,” said Dorothy Tucker, president of NABJ.

Participants receive total compensation of $60,000, plus benefits, and are invited for a full-time reporting role at POLITICO upon successful completion of the program. This professional fellowship program also features monthly workshops, mentoring and other training as well as editorial rotations for career exploration. Anna and Daniel begin their fellowships in the POLITICO newsroom this week. Jonathan and Marissa will begin their 12-month terms in June.

The 2021 POLITICO Fellows

Jonathan Custodio brought his Bronx-honed reporting skills to POLITICO in October as an intern in the New York office, where he contributes regularly to New York Playbook and the New York Real Estate newsletter and covers city campaigns. A member of NABJ, Jonathan’s work has been featured in ProPublica’s Electionland and the immigration news outlet Documented NY. A graduate of LaGuardia Community College and Lehman College, Jonathan also served as a reporting intern at The Chronicle of Higher Education and Bronx community newspaper Norwood News. The Pulitzer Center awarded Jonathan a grant in 2019 to do groundbreaking bilingual reporting on Afro Mexicans’ struggle for political, social and cultural recognition, which helped (along with decades of activists’ efforts) lead to unanimous vote by the Mexican Senate to ensure constitutional recognition for the disenfranchised community. Jonathan is a member of NABJ.

Anna Kambhampaty has spent the past year and a half as a reporter/researcher at Time Magazine, and delivered a major scoop– Anna broke the Justin Trudeau brownface story for Time in the midst of the 2019 Canadian election. A native of upstate New York, Anna brings a mix of skills to the newsroom: She studied information science at Cornell University while writing a column for the Cornell Daily Sun, and was an interactive web development intern at CNBC and a UX engineering intern at The New York Times before landing at Time. Since mid-2019, Anna has researched and reported on art, agriculture, politics, and history for Time, but developed a specialty at the intersection of politics, race and identity. Anna is a member of AAJA.

A native of Chicago, Marissa Martinez has already made a name for herself as a newsroom leader and editor in chief of the Daily Northwestern, during a tumultuous year for higher education. Marissa managed a staff of more than 80 journalists and reported on issues of race, health and education for the city, campus and investigative desks at The Daily, which serves as the only newspaper for the city of Evanston, Ill. Marissa, who speaks Spanish and has studied Portuguese and Arabic, created the newspaper’s first diversity and inclusion editor and has been interviewed by the Columbia Journalism Review for her work in newsroom diversity. Marissa currently covers COVID-19 as a reporting fellow for the Texas Tribune. She is a past participant of the POLITICO Journalism Institute and is a member of NABJ, AAJA and NAHJ.

Daniel Payne has worked to push The DeSoto Times-Tribune toward a digital-first approach as the Mississippi newspaper’s executive editor for the past year. He emphasized aggressive accountability reporting on the pandemic and redesigned the newspaper, newsletters and social media accounts. A graduate of the University of Mississippi, Oxford, Daniel was editor in chief of The Daily Mississippian, where he also helped overhaul the newspaper’s website and workflow. Daniel has interned for the Global Post in Washington, D.C., and worked as a reporter and panelist for the Lens Collective researching, filming and editing short films on civil rights activists.

Daily Mississippian finalist for Newspaper of the Year in national competition

Posted on: September 28th, 2019 by ldrucker

The Daily Mississippian is a finalist for Daily Newspaper of the Year in the national Pinnacle Award competition, one of the highest honors in college journalism.

The DM is one of four finalists in the four-year university category. The other three are student newspapers at Iowa State, Texas A&M, and the University of Texas-Austin. The category is for newspapers published at least three days per week.

A front page of The Daily Mississippian

It recognizes excellence in coverage and content; design, graphics and illustrations; photography; service to the campus community; and reporting, writing and editing.

Each entry consisted of one edition published in fall 2018, one edition published spring 2019, and one other edition from anytime during the 2018-2019 academic year.

Winners will be announced at a College Media Association conference in November.