New South at the Clarion-Ledger

A Mississippi paper backs education--and wins a Pulitzer

When 200,000 people marched on Washington in 1963 to urge "jobs and freedom" for blacks, the Jackson (Miss.) Clarion-Ledger noted the rally dryly but reported the litter-clearance effort the next day under the headline: WASHINGTON IS CLEAN AGAIN WITH NEGRO TRASH REMOVED. Times have changed in Mississippi--and at the 146-year-old Clarion-Ledger. The state-capital paper, whose modest daily circulation of 70,000 is Mississippi's largest, crusades against corruption and police brutality toward poor blacks. Last week the paper's campaign for reform of the state's allegedly inadequate, segregation-tainted public schools won the most coveted award in newspaper journalism, the Pulitzer Prize for public service.

The Clarion-Ledger gave the eight-part education series an investment impressive even by the standards of bigger papers: Reporters Fred Anklam Jr., 28, and Nancy Weaver, 29, crisscrossed the state for four months, arriving unannounced in 40 of the 153 local school districts. Says Anklam: "We tried to catch people unawares." In 51 news stories and 27 editorials, timed to influence a December special session of the legislature, the Clarion-Ledger contended: "Mississippi public schools aren't making the grade." Among the ills cited: per-pupil funding of only $1,965 for 1981-82, vs. a national average of $2,671, and a dropout rate that is double the national average. The school system reflected a culture of poverty: Mississippi has consistently ranked lowest of all states in per capita income since record keeping began in 1929.

Lawmakers who opposed the paper's call for change were cited in Clarion-Ledger editorials under the designation "Hall of Shame." Legislators protested the unaccustomed pressure, but at the urging of Governor William Winter, as well as the paper, they enacted new school taxes, across-the-board teacher pay raises, reading aid, a stronger compulsory-attendance law and state support for kindergartens. Said Clarion-Ledger Executive Editor Charles Overby, 36: "Pulitzers have come to Mississippi before, some for reporting about things the state failed to do. This one is for what Mississippi did."

The paper's rehabilitation began in the mid-1970s under Rea Hederman, whose family had owned the publication for more than 40 years. Hederman expanded the staff and news budget. Editors began to pursue promising young reporters, even from other states. To help gain credibility among blacks, who are 42% of Jackson's population, the paper increased black coverage and staff (current total: four of the 27 reporters).

Last year, after Hederman left, the family sold the Clarion-Ledger and its evening sister paper, the Jackson Daily News (circ. 40,000), to the Gannett Co. the nation's biggest (87 dailies) newspaper chain. But Hederman's goal of improvement survived. The paper opened bureaus in three Mississippi cities and began to send reporters to cover stories throughout the South. Says Managing Editor Rober Gordon: "We are a good newspaper trying to get better."

Among other Pulitzer winners las week:

> Thomas Friedman of the New York Times and Loren Jenkins of the Washington Post for reporting from Lebanon.

> The Boston Globe for a 56-page special section examining U.S. policy on the us of nuclear weapons.

> The Fort Wayne (Ind.) News-Sentinel for coverage of a March 1982 flood that forced many of the city's residents to evacuate their homes.

> Loretta Tofani of the Washington Post for investigation of rapes of men in Maryland jail.

> The Miami Herald for editorials opposing detention of Haitian refugees.

> Alice Walker for her novel The Color Purple.

> Marsha Norman for her play Night, Mother.

> New York Times Columnist Russell Baker, a 1979 winner in commentary, for his autobiography Growing Up. This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.