Mississippi 'muckraker' accepts
Zenger Award from UA Journalism Department
and Arizona Newspapers Association Foundation
Jerry Mitchell said he wore the term "muckraker" proudly when he
accepted the 2007 John Peter and Anna Catherine
Zenger Award from the University of Arizona Department of Journalism and the
Arizona Newspapers Association Foundation Sept. 22.
Mitchell, an investigative reporter for the
Clarion-Ledger in Jackson, Miss., has worked since 1989
pursuing evidence about killings during the civil rights era.
His work so far has helped put four Klansmen behind bars and
inspired countless other investigations. Authorities in
Mississippi and six other states have re-examined 29 killings
from the civil rights era and made 29 arrests, leading to 23
convictions. The Justice Department is now re-examining more
than 100 deaths from the era.
"John Peter Zenger has been a hero of mine since I first read about him in a journalism
history class -- someone who dared to print the truth," said Mitchell in his
acceptance speech at the ANA's Zenger Awards Luncheon for Freedom of the Press
and the People's Right to Know. "To receive an award now in honor of him and his wife, Anna
Catherine, is something I never imagined."
"Jerry Mitchell's reporting exemplifies the type of
courageous work the Zenger award is designed to honor," said UA
journalism department head Jacqueline Sharkey. "His
determination to continue informing the public about these
crimes and their impact on individuals, families and our society
sets an example for every journalist."
The Zenger Award is
named for a husband and wife team of pioneering journalists.
John Peter Zenger was editor of the New York Weekly Journal in
1734 when he was jailed by British colonial authorities on
charges of seditious libel. He had criticized the corrupt
administration of New York's governor, William Cosby. While
Zenger was imprisoned, his wife, Anna Catherine Zenger,
continued to publish the newspaper. The UA journalism department first gave the award in 1954.
Read the Introductory Remarks made by UA Journalism Department Head Jacqueline Sharkey at the Zenger Luncheon.
Read Jerry Mitchell's Acceptance Speech.
Read more about Mitchell and the Zenger award in the Tucson Citizen's
Sept. 22 story.
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