The first issue of the Mississippi Tribune will publish today with an eye toward covering overlooked stories that “may be of more interest to the African-American community,” editorial manager Lonnie Ross said.
The paper will be a 24-page weekly publication starting in February, Ross said.
The first edition will be a 12-page pilot.
Mississippi Tribune Publishing is producing the paper with Ross and marketing manager Anthony Witherspoon as managing partners.
Ross said he hoped the paper would complement current media in the area, using its weekly schedule to fill a different niche.
“You make choices on what goes in your limited pages of any newspaper,” Ross said. “Those editorial decisions mean there’s still news and stories left out there. We want those additional stories that we also consider mainstream that just don’t get published.”
Ross said that goal wasn’t an indictment against existing media, specifically complementing the Enterprise-Journal’s coverage of local churches.
Rather, the storyteller often affects the tone of a piece, and the Tribune will aim to increase the diversity of local voices, he said.
“We’re just going to add a few more wrinkles,” he said.
“Usually it’s the storyteller and the culture of the storyteller. The Enterprise-Journal is a white newspaper and so is the Magnolia Gazette, their culture is white. … The Tribune is a complement to that. It’s not adversarial at all. It’s nothing against the current media,” Ross said.
Ross suggested more coverage of Southwestern Athletic Conference sports as an example of the Tribune’s focus.
The paper will include local, state, national and world news, as well as obituaries, a community calendar, and sections on education, business, health, religion, entertainment and sports.
The Tribune hopes to add legal notices in the future, Ross said.
“Typically with any weekly or monthly publication, it has the same start-up issues,” Ross said. “You’ve got to identify a printer, establish a means to do that. You have to identify on the editorial side who’s going to capture the stories and edit the stories, do layout and photos and acquire the software to do that.”
The Tribune will start with Ross and Witherspoon as its only full-time employees, but also will have part-time staff and hopes to add more employees and freelance contributors over time, Ross said.
Ross said the paper is still searching for office space in McComb. The paper will sell for 50 cents per copy, with yearly subscriptions available for $20.
It will be distributed at local churches, the Alpha Center Library at 414 McComb St. and Ashley’s Used Cars, Tires, Rims, Auto & Detail Shop at 529 W. Presley Blvd.
