The Oxford Eagle to partner with HuffPost on joint reporting project

Published 5:08 pm Thursday, July 13, 2017

HuffPost and The Oxford Eagle will team up this fall to produce a joint local reporting project set to publish the day the national news outlet makes a tour stop in Mississippi.

HuffPost today announced “Listen To America: A HuffPost Road Trip,” a 23-city, cross-country bus tour to listen and learn what it means to be American today. Launching in September, the multistate road trip will spotlight personal stories and perspectives from across the U.S. to better understand what unites — rather than divides — the country. The ultimate goal is to accurately, humanely and emotionally capture the concerns, hopes and dreams of everyday Americans.

HuffPost reporters and producers will travel across the U.S. with a mobile studio to collect the stories of hundreds of Americans in their own words. HuffPost will create engaging stories along the tour, from first-person interviews to impactful deep dives. The “Listen To America” tour will use video, podcasting, newsletter, chatbot, text, in-person activations and HuffPost’s massively powerful social media channels to highlight undercovered communities and issues. Additionally, HuffPost will highlight heroes in each location who have made a significant contribution in their communities.

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“In order to cover the country the way we are aiming to in this new HuffPost era, we have to listen to the real, felt concerns of American citizens,” said Lydia Polgreen, HuffPost Editor-in-Chief. “Not only will we capture these stories and share them across the HuffPost network, we will listen to the people we meet to understand how to drive our coverage through 2017 and well beyond. Our hope is to shine a light on what is most important to everyday Americans, and also to show that there is more that unites us as a country than divides us.”

The bus will stop in each location for at least one day, and engage nonprofit, business and community groups, as well as the general population.  HuffPost has partnered with a local media outlet in each city for a joint reporting project, The Oxford Eagle included.

“This is a tremendous opportunity to partner with a national outlet for the purpose of developing meaningful journalism,” said Oxford Eagle Editor in Chief Alex McDaniel. “Community journalism is critical in Lafayette County and Mississippi, and we couldn’t be happier to work with HuffPost to tackle an issue that’s of importance to our community.”

Confirmed local media partners, dates and cities are listed below.

Sept. 12St. Louis, MO – The St. Louis American
Sept. 14Little Rock, AR – KARK
Sept. 15Oxford, MS – The Oxford Eagle
Sept. 18Memphis, TN – High Ground News
Sept. 20Birmingham, AL
Sept. 22: Ft. Benning, GA – Georgia Health News
Sept. 25Asheville, NC – Carolina Public Press
Sept. 27Charleston, WV
Sept. 29Pittsburgh, PA – The Incline
Oct. 2Akron, OH – WKSU
Oct. 3Detroit, MI – The Arab American News
Oct. 5: Ft. Wayne, IN – The Journal Gazette
Oct. 6Milwaukee, WI – Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism
Oct. 9Des Moines, IA – IowaWatch
Oct. 10Kansas City, MO – KCUR
Oct. 11Lincoln, NE
Oct. 13Casper, WY – Casper Star-Tribune
Oct. 16Livingston, MT – Montana Quarterly
Oct. 18Provo, UT – The Daily Universe
Oct. 20Tucson, AZ – Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting
Oct. 23Albuquerque, NM – ABQ Free Press
Oct. 25Odessa, TX – The Odessa American
Oct. 27New Orleans, LA – The Lens

HuffPost has hired Peak XV, a communications and production agency, to serve as partner on the tour, assisting with in-field execution of the road trip, events and programming.

For more information, visit huffp.st/listentoamerica.