Expand Coverage by Building From Within the Community

The Mississippi Free Press has expanded its reach across Mississippi by investing in reporters and relationships rooted in the communities it wants to better serve.

With Pivot Fund support, MFP expanded reporting in East Central Mississippi, including coverage of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, a community that had received little sustained local news coverage. The newsroom hired Roger Amos, a member of the Choctaw Nation, to bring lived experience, relationships and community knowledge to its reporting.

When Amos had to step back from his full-time role, MFP didn’t abandon the coverage area. The newsroom continued building relationships, worked with Amos to strengthen community connections and is now using career fairs and Solutions Circles to listen, recruit and identify what residents need from local journalism.

That community-rooted approach extends across MFP’s work, from reporting that helped spur an $800,000 response for foster students who lost college assistance to immigration coverage that gave residents information they needed to organize and support detained community members.

What community publishers can learn from MFP:

• Hire from the communities you want to serve. Lived experience and local relationships can strengthen reporting and trust.
• Build relationships before expanding coverage. Listen first to understand information gaps and community priorities.
• Stay committed when plans change. A staffing change doesn’t have to mean abandoning a community or coverage area.
• Make engagement part of expansion. Community events, listening and local partnerships can help identify sources, future reporters and stories.

MFP’s experience shows that expanding coverage is about building the relationships and local capacity to serve that community for the long term.