|
Date 4-17-06
Contact Angela Kilcrease 601.266.4988
Hattiesburg—Journalism
students at the University of Southern Mississippi are covering
the Gulf Coast’s recovery from Hurricane Katrina in an online project
designed to add to the news industry’s effort to report on a story
of unprecedented scale.
The After Katrina
Newswire is a Web site and news service that allows Southern Miss
students to report on people and communities recovering from the
enormous damage that followed Katrina. It can be viewed at www.usm.edu/afterkatrina.
The site is designed to include newspaper-style stories as well
as multimedia photo essays and streamed broadcast features.
“The recovery
from Katrina is an enormous event. There are literally hundreds
of thousands of stories, and we feel our journalism majors ought
to be participating in the coverage,” said Chris Campbell, director
of the Southern Miss School of Mass Communication and Journalism.
Stories on the
Web site can be reprinted for free by regional newspapers. “Some
of the smaller newspapers and weeklies in the region are still struggling
because of Katrina,” Campbell said. “They’ve lost circulation and
advertising. They’ve lost staff members. This will give them an
opportunity to pick up some coverage without cost. And that will
give our students exposure that will be good for them.”
The project
is supported by a grant from the Hattiesburg American.
“We are thrilled
to be a part of this project,” said Judith D. “Skippy” Haik, president
and publisher of the Hattiesburg American. “The destruction
caused by Katrina is unprecedented and many stories are being missed.
By giving these students an opportunity to expand their skills,
we are also creating a repository of information to be used for
many years.”
The Web site
is being designed and edited by Farid Mouzai, a doctoral student
in the School of Mass Communication and Journalism at Southern Miss.
Campbell said
he expects the project to last beyond 2006. “We’re seeking additional
support so that journalism students from other universities can
contribute,” Campbell said. “I’m not sure if the national news media
really understand the magnitude of the story. Most of the national
coverage these days still seems to focus on the government’s initial
response to Katrina and to the failure of the New Orleans’ levee
system. For people living in this region, the real story is the
recovery, and that’s the focus of this project.”
For more information,
contact Chris Campbell at christopher.campbell@usm.edu
or 601.266.4258.
| 
