Sands of Change in the Mississippi Delta: How Local Newspapers Prevent News Deserts from Silencing Their Communities

This thesis analyzes the results from four interviews conducted with media professionals working in the Mississippi Delta to determine the risks news deserts pose in the Mississippi Delta. The interviewees represented The Yazoo Herald, Greenwood Commonwealth, The Panolian, and The DeSoto Times-Tribune. The Mississippi Delta is the poorest region of the poorest state in the United States of America, increasing the likelihood of news deserts since they form in poor and rural areas. The interviewees answered thirteen questions that addressed changes in the newspaper industry, the roles journalists fill in society, the future of journalism, and their concerns about news deserts. News deserts prevent citizens from exercising their democratic rights on a grassroots level because they cannot make an informed decision without using local news reports to make their decision. Corruption becomes more common in local governments located in news deserts than communities with a local newspaper because politicians do not have to worry about journalists exposing their corruption. Communities form connections when local newspapers report businesses opening, cover high school sports, write feature stories on remarkable residents, and inform them of community events. Although the media professionals interviewed for this study indicated that their newspapers are thriving, the results of this study suggest that news deserts still pose a significant threat to the Mississippi Delta. The newspapers in this study lack the funding, staff, and support to cover the entirety of their counties, making it difficult for them to assist current news deserts and prevent more from developing. With the populations of these four counties decreasing every decade, they risk losing the support that has kept their printing presses running longer than they would have in a big city. This study on small newspapers in the Mississippi Delta exposed how small newspapers have outlasted many large newspapers. However, the detailed answers from interviewees and their experience in the media industry show that small newspapers are not exempt from the decline of the newspaper industry. After analyzing their responses, the disconnect between large media outlets not local to these four counties became apparent, further reflecting that the twenty-four-hour news cycle does not mean more representation for every community.