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Outlet profile

Mississippi Today

U.S. center-left (nonprofit, watchdog-style)

Owned byOperated by Mississippi Today, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that is now part of Deep South Today, a regional nonprofit newsroom network. It has no corporate or individual owner.
FundingDonations from individuals and foundations, grants, sponsorships and advertising, and events. It was seeded by Jim and Donna Barksdale and Andrew Lack, and it keeps a public 'Who Funds Us?' page. Recent grants include $300,000 from the Public Welfare Foundation to Deep South Today in June 2026.
On the administrationbroadly critical

Background

Mississippi Today launched in 2016 as a nonprofit statehouse watchdog. Its early backers included former Netscape president Jim Barksdale and his wife Donna, along with former NBC chairman Andrew Lack. It began with Capitol coverage and later expanded to statewide reporting on education, health care, criminal justice, and politics. Adam Ganucheau was editor-in-chief from April 2020 and in September 2025 became executive editor and chief content officer of Deep South Today. Reporter Anna Wolfe won the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting for her series on the state's roughly $77 million welfare-fund scandal, including the role of former Gov. Phil Bryant and Brett Favre. The outlet and Wolfe were later pulled into litigation and court fights over that reporting. A lawsuit tied to the scandal was dismissed in 2025, and Wolfe also faced a possible jail threat over subpoenas. Staff unionized in 2023. The outlet describes itself as nonpartisan and says it is independent. Its investigations often hold Republican state leaders accountable, and its opinion pieces and some commentary lean left on topics such as civil rights, voting rights, and public spending. This pattern is consistent with a center-left orientation, though most of its news output is local rather than national.

Sources

  1. Who Funds Us? - Mississippi Today
  2. About Mississippi Today
  3. Mississippi Today - Wikipedia
  4. Adam Ganucheau named Executive Editor & Chief Content Officer of Deep South Today
  5. Public Welfare Foundation awards $300,000 to Deep South Today
  6. Investigation into welfare money steered to Brett Favre wins Pulitzer for Mississippi Today reporter - Poynter
  7. A small news site won a Pulitzer for its Brett Favre scoop. Now it's unionizing. - The Washington Post
  8. Judge dismisses lawsuit vs. news outlet for Brett Favre reporting - ESPN

Profile compiled 2026-10-24; refreshed when ownership, funding, or the administration changes.

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