1911-2011: a history of The Daily Mississippian

In 1911, students at the University of Mississippi attempted to publish a student newspaper for the third time, and on Oct. 14 — almost a month before the start of the Chevorlet Automobile company — The Mississippian was born, with Forrest Cooper and Rad H. Reed as the first editors-in-chief. 

Since then, The Mississippian has survived through 18 presidents, six wars and countless other events. 

Groups of editors from The Mississippian created the student Hall of Fame in 1930 and the Miss University Pageant in 1949. 

The 1960s enjoyed some of the biggest transformations in the long history of one of the oldest student newspapers in the Southeast. 

In 1961, The Mississippian became a daily publication under the leadership of editor James Robertson. Sidna Brower nearly won a Pulitzer Prize after asking the students to stop rioting during the integration of James Meredith as a student in 1962. In the spring of 1968, The Mississippian would have its name changed to what we know it as today: The Daily Mississippian. 

Before 1990, all of the editors-in-chief had to campaign and be elected by the student body for the opportunity to lead the newspaper, but at the turn of the decade a new system was chosen to determine who would run the paper. Potential editors now had to apply for the job and be selected by a committee. The result of this was the first African-American editor-in-chief in the history of The Daily Mississippian, Lee Eric Smith.

The ‘90s also produced the first family of The Daily Mississippian. Kenneth Robertson, editor-in-chief of The DM from 1996-97, married Jenny Dodson, who would be the editor-in-chief from 1997-98. Kenneth Robertson’s father, James Robertson, was editor-in-chief from 1961-62 and his mother was the managing editor in 1962-63. 

In 2004, The Daily Mississippian moved into Bishop Hall and became part of the S. Gale Denley Student Media Center.

Meek School of Journalism and New Media Dean Will Norton predicts a bright future for the Student Media Center. 

“My whole view has been that the Student Media Center has been the key to building a great career,” he said. “I think you will find that is the direction we have tried to go and this administration will do everything we can to help the student media center be a place of quality because if it’s a place of quality, then students will get jobs in the media.”