Photo: Bayou on the Pearl River, which forms part of the Mississippi-Louisiana border, Wikimedia
Deep South Today, the nonprofit network of local newsrooms that includes Mississippi Today, Verite News in New Orleans, Louisiana, and The Current in Lafayette, Louisiana, announced Tuesday that it will create a new regional investigative reporting center in collaboration with The New York Times Local Investigations Fellowship. The Deep South Today Investigative Reporting Center will launch in early 2026 with a lead investigative editor, dedicated full-time investigative and data reporters, and New York Times Local Investigations Fellows at Mississippi Today and Verite News. It will also include support from Big Local News, a program at Stanford University that empowers journalists with data, tools and collaborations. As the Deep South Today network of newsrooms continues to grow, the Deep South Today Investigative Reporting Center will add capacity in its new newsrooms with dedicated reporters and fellows.”
The New York Times Local Investigations Fellowship is committing substantial resources in addition to the fellowship positions. Deputy Editor Chris Davis will manage the Deep South Today investigative team and the work will be co-published by Deep South Today newsrooms and The Times, and made available to local news organizations for co-publication. The Times will also lend staff time to help Deep South Today recruit, hire and train the editors and reporters who will be a part of their new investigative reporting center, as well as edit the stories being produced. Support from the Times will help fast-track Deep South Today’s ambitious goals to produce local beat coverage and investigative stories of importance to communities across the region. Additionally, the Local Investigations Fellowship will continue working with other newsrooms across the U.S. to produce original accountability journalism.”
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