Jackson Free Press
The Jackson Free Press is an alternative weekly magazine available free of charge in Jackson, Mississippi and surrounding suburbs. It was founded in 2002 by Mississippi native Donna Ladd and author and technology expert Todd Stauffer and launched both online and in print that same year. In 2022, the magazine's assets were purchased by the Mississippi Journalism and Education Group, which owns and operates the Mississippi Free Press.
History
The Jackson Free Press was founded in 2002 by Mississippi native Donna Ladd and author and technology expert Todd Stauffer and launched simultaneously online and as a free biweekly magazine. The magazine became weekly in May 2004. The publication's name is based on the original Mississippi Free Press, a civil rights movement newspaper started by a multiracial coalition.In 2006, Gannett Corp. and their newspaper The Clarion-Ledger proposed a new distribution plan for merchants that would require independent publishers to pay a fee and sign an exclusive distribution contract to join. The Jackson Free Press joined with eight other publishers in the Jackson area to form the Mississippi Independent Publishers Alliance to fight the effort and create their own distribution plan. The fight between MIPA and Gannett Corp. was covered in the Editor & Publisher trade magazine, as well as media across the country. Gannett's plan was investigated by Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood. In 2009, Gannett closed their distribution network while MIPA maintained theirs.
In January 2021, Donna Ladd, then the 18-year editor-in-chief of the magazine, transferred to a new role as founding editor while Nate Schumann was promoted to managing editor.
In 2022, the magazine's journalism assets were sold to the Mississippi Journalism and Education Group, a nonprofit media organization that owns and operates the Mississippi Free Press, a nonprofit online newsroom founded by Jackson Free Press co-founder Donna Ladd and former Jackson Free Press Associate Publisher Kimberly Griffin.