Deep South Today - American Journalism Project

Deep South Today is a nonprofit network of local newsrooms that includes Mississippi Today and Verite News. Founded in 2016, Mississippi Today is now one of the largest newsrooms in the state, and in 2023 it won the Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting. Verite News launched in 2022 in New Orleans, where it covers inequities facing communities of color. With its regional scale and scope, Deep South Today is rebuilding and re-energizing local journalism in communities where it had previously eroded, and ensuring its long-term growth and sustainability.

Deep South Today currently has two newsrooms in its network: Mississippi Today and Verite News.

About Mississippi Today

Mississippi Today is one of the largest newsrooms in Mississippi, providing free, nonpartisan news as an antidote to apathy and an essential key to government accountability.

Founded in 2016 as a statehouse watchdog, Mississippi Today won the Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting in 2023. Its roots in capitol coverage have grown to encompass a myriad of beats beyond politics and policy, including education, public health, justice, environment, equity and sports. It has drawn praise from civic leaders for its statewide public-interest coverage, serving diverse residents throughout the state through its journalism and events.

With support from the American Journalism Project, the organization is building a leadership and revenue team that can undertake expansion to provide local news for communities across the Deep South.

About Verite News

Verite News is a nonprofit news organization with a twofold mission to produce in-depth journalism that serves the whole community while training, developing and mentoring a new generation of minority journalists to work on the ground in New Orleans, and equip them to work anywhere through daily reporting and a targeted fellowship program.

Verite News elevates voices from communities that have been historically dismissed or ignored, creating thoughtful, solution-based coverage on crucial topics such as education, housing, health care, criminal justice, the environment and politics to help lift up a region that has been left behind compared to similar national metropolitan areas.

Verite News provides a new platform for the area’s unique culture through thoughtful coverage, compelling storytelling, historical retrospectives and by publishing contributions from writers, poets, musicians, artists and other culture bearers who are striving to preserve traditions while also creating new ones.

The newsroom’s in-depth, data-based reporting is geared towards finding solutions to issues such as the racial wealth gap, gentrification, health care disparities, and chronic poverty. Bringing these issues to light with a thoughtful, inclusive approach engages and empathizes with all stakeholders to bring positive change. Addressing and increasing diversity in newsrooms is part of the solution.

Deep South Today leaders

Warwick Sabin

President and CEO

Warwick Sabin is the inaugural president and CEO for Deep South Today. He served three terms in the Arkansas House of Representatives from 2013-19, and in 2014, he was among 24 national political leaders awarded the Rodel Fellowship by the Aspen Institute for his “outstanding ability to work responsibly across partisan divisions and bring greater civility to public discourse.” Before assuming his position at Deep South Today, Sabin was Chief Strategy Officer at Interfaith America, and previously he was the Executive Director of Strategic Engagement at the Aspen Institute. Earlier he was the Senior Director of U.S. Programs at Winrock International and the founding director of the Arkansas Regional Innovation Hub. From 2008-13 he was the publisher of the Oxford American magazine, and in 2009, he was named to the FOLIO:40, a list of the 40 most influential people in the national magazine industry. Sabjn’s additional professional experience includes serving as director of development for the Clinton Foundation, as well as working on Capitol Hill, at the White House, the U.S. Embassy in London, and at Foreign Affairs magazine. He is a Marshall Scholar and a Truman Scholar, and he holds degrees from Oxford University and the University of Arkansas, where he graduated as valedictorian and was president of the student body.

Mississippi Today leaders

Mary Margaret White

CEO

Mary Margaret White joined the Mississippi Today team in 2017 as marketing and branding director, and held numerous titles before being named CEO in 2020. She oversees the newsroom’s business operations, with a special focus on donor cultivation and philanthropy. She is a 2021 graduate of the Sulzberger Executive Leadership Program at Columbia University and a 2020 fellow of the Online News Association’s Women’s Leadership Accelerator.
Adam Ganucheau

Editor-in-Chief

Adam Ganucheau oversees the newsroom and was one of the first employees hired at Mississippi Today pre-launch in 2016. For more than four years as a founding reporter and as editor-in-chief since 2020, he has played an integral role in growing the initial editorial vision into one of the largest and most accomplished newsrooms in the state. Adam also has worked as a staff reporter for AL.com, The Birmingham News and The Clarion-Ledger and his work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post and Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Verite News leaders

David Francis

Executive Director

David Francis is the retired Executive Vice President and Publisher of NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune, working for NOLA Media Group and its predecessor, The Times-Picayune, for more than 24 years. David previously served as a Regional Business Planner and Manager of Financial Operations for Pepsi-Cola and Audit Manager for Deloitte & Touche. He earned his undergraduate and master's degrees in business administration from Tulane University and is a CPA (inactive status). In addition to the presidency of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival and Foundation, he is the President of the Institute of Mental Hygiene board. He is currently a board member of Liberty Bank and Trust, LSU Healthcare Network and The Times-Picayune Doll and Toy Fund. Previously, David was president of the boards of the Louisiana Press Association, Louisiana Daily Newspaper Association and, Children's Bureau of New Orleans and Vice Chair, of Lakefront Management Authority Board of Commissioners He has served on the boards of the United Way of Southeast Louisiana, Louis Armstrong Jazz Camp, New Orleans Chamber of Commerce, the Greater New Orleans Foundation and Board of Advisory for Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New Orleans. During his tenure at The Times-Picayune, the newspaper won four Pulitzer Prizes, including the first in its 176-year history.
Terry Baquet

Editor in Chief

Terry Baquet joined Verite News in 2022 after 28 years at NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune, where he served as Sunday Editor and was the Page 1 Editor during the paper’s Katrina coverage, which won two Pulitzer Prizes in breaking news and public service. In 2012, Terry was named Managing Editor/Director of Print, essentially overseeing all editorial decisions for the newspaper’s print edition as well as supervising the production for four other newspapers in the Advance Publications chain. He has served on the boards of Lede New Orleans and Spaceship Media, and he has been a Pulitzer Prize juror twice, having chaired the jury that decided the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for local reporting. He is a lifelong New Orleanian who grew up in the 7th Ward and continues to live there today.