The damage caused by the hurricane that struck the Gulf Coast Aug. 29, 2005, is unparalleled in American History.  As people and communities face the massive task of digging out from the mess created by Hurricane Katrina, there are, quite literally, tens of thousands of stories, too many for professional news organizations to get to them all. 

The After Katrina Newswire is a journalism project of the School of Mass Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern Mississippi.   It is designed to provide student journalists with an opportunity to contribute important stories to the collective coverage of the region’s recovery from the ravages of Katrina.  The goal of the project is to provide visitors to the Web site with additional insight into the storm’s lingering impact, especially as it affects people from groups who are traditionally underrepresented in media coverage – the poor, the elderly, people of color, people with disabilities, etc.  It is also designed to provide news organizations with stories about the recovery that they can publish without cost. 

Student journalists from other universities (and from regional high schools) are encouraged to contribute stories to the site.  We can reimburse USM students for up to $50 in expenses related to work done on stories published on the site.  We will pay non-USM students $50 for each story we publish.  Contact us at the address below for information about reimbursement or payment. 

            Many thanks to the Southern Miss journalism faculty members who have helped with this project; they include Dr. Cindy Brown, Dr. David Bennett, Ms. Kim LeDuff, Ms. Pearl Stewart and Mr. Clarence Williams. 

The project is supported in part by grants from the Hattiesburg American, the (Jackson) Clarion-Ledger and the Mississippi Power Company.

To news organizations that would like to reprint material from this site:  You can do so free of charge.  We simply ask that you include the information that follows each story, which identifies the reporter(s) and briefly describes this project.  For example:  “John Doe is a senior journalism major at The University of Southern Mississippi.  This story is from the After Katrina Newswire, a project of the School of Mass Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern Mississippi (www.usm.edu/afterkatrina).”  We also ask that you notify us when you use any of the material.

To student journalists who would like to contribute:  You can submit stories in any digital form to the project’s editor, Farid Mouzai, at Farid.Mouzai@usm.edu.

For more information about the project, contact:

Christopher Campbell, Ph.D.

Director, School of Mass Communication and Journalism

The University of Southern Mississippi

christopher.campbell@usm.edu

601-266-6283

Thanks for visiting the After Katrina Newswire,

Chris Campbell