The
Calhoun ounty CJournal By LEAH GIBSON
The Calhoun County Journal, the Meek School of Journalism and New Media, and the Student Media Center have separate histories, but the people involved have created a powerful foundation for each to succeed.
Photo by CELIA HILLHOUSE
J
oel McNeece runs the Calhoun County Journal. McNeece got his start after the chair of the journalism department at the University of Southern Mississippi, the late Art Kaul, encouraged him to change his major after reading a paper he had written for a class. When asked about the role of the Calhoun County Journal in the state, McNeece explained that it is more specific to the county. “We are the newspaper of record, the recorders of history, the storytellers,” McNeece said. “The only shared medium that captures the most important moments in Calhoun Countians’ lives, we are the peoples’ watchdog for their local government, their only source for detailed, timely news and information about their home county. It’s a responsibility we don’t take lightly.” Not only is McNeece busy running the Calhoun County Journal, but he also spends his days as the president of the Mississippi Press Association. “My typical workday is the same as any other journalist — working to cover all the news in my county,” McNeece said. “As MPA president, I have to make time to study issues within the industry, seek opportunities to promote our industry, which often involves speaking to various organizations, including high school and college classes, and reach out to other newspaper publishers and government leaders to address a variety of issues that impact newspapers of all sizes.” McNeece admits to having help from
20 MEEK SCHOOL
an insider with his MPA position — his wife, Lisa Denley McNeece, a University of Mississippi alumna, former MPA president, and daughter of journalist S. Gale Denley. “I get insight and advice from my wife about everything on a daily basis,” McNeece said. “I take a lot of pride in her accomplishments as a past president of MPA, and the same holds true for my late fatherin-law S. Gale Denley, who not only is a past president, but also in the MPA Hall of Fame.” Lisa McNeece was president of MPA in 1999, “before social media, right about the time email was just catching on, she said. Lisa and Joel met in 1998 at a Mississippi Press Association newspaper convention in Biloxi. “He was working for another newspaper at the time,” Lisa said. “We married the next year, which was during my MPA presidency. The issues we faced during our terms are so different.” Lisa has a special connection to the Meek School, the Calhoun County Journal and the Student Media Center. It is more than being a graduate of the university, she said. “My dad started teaching journalism at Ole Miss in the early 1960s, when I was a couple of years old,” Lisa said. She spent a lot of time in the journalism department throughout the years. “I audited some journalism classes at Ole Miss when I was a teenager, while working at our family newspaper at the same time,” Lisa said. “I graduated with a degree in journalism in the early 1980s. Will Norton
was one of my instructors. I was an adjunct professor at Ole Miss for a few years, several years ago, teaching newspaper management. I occasionally am asked to speak to a class, which I gladly do.” Lisa said that journalism is her life, and that it is all she has ever known. “I grew up stuffing newspapers, collecting basketball scores from coaches, taking pictures and developing film, all in my pre-teen years,” Lisa said. “My grandfather started the Calhoun County Journal in 1953, so I was lucky to work with my grandparents and now my sister and husband. I have seen a lot of changes throughout the years, but I have learned to embrace them all — digital cameras, desktop publishing, social media. It’s a challenge to keep up with all the changes that come our way, but that’s what makes it exciting.” Lisa’s father, S. Gale Denley, helped start the Calhoun County Journal at 17. His wife, Jo Ann Denley, worked as manager for 28 years. “I am a graduate of the university, and all three of my children have degrees from there,” Jo Ann Denley said. “(Journalism) has been my life, and I would still be working if I had not reached, or more than reached, retirement age.” Lisa explains what the connection of the Journal and the Meek School currently has, and has had, on her life. “The Calhoun County Journal is basically a three-person operation with my sister, husband and me,” Lisa said. “I have written a weekly column since 1981, designed all of the advertising, done the bookkeeping,
