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who we are
Djournal.com is the online companion to the
newspapers owned by Journal Publishing Co., Inc. Journal Publishing Co.,
Inc. is owned by the nonprofit CREATE
Foundation formed by George McLean to be a catalyst for positive change in
Northeast Mississippi by committing its resources to projects that will improve
the quality of life for all citizens of Northeast Mississippi and by helping
individuals and groups of providing financial support to meaningful projects.
Principles
that guide the Journal in its service to the community
By George McLean
On the one hundredth anniversary of the founding
of both the city of Tupelo and the newspaper which became the Tupelo Area
Daily Journal, we feel it appropriate to reaffirm certain basic principles
which we believe should characterize a good newspaper or other business
institution.
1. Human Resources are our most vital assets. Development
depends on people. We must seek the fullest possible development of
each person in our community. Without good people you cannot build
a good business or a good community.
2. The Journal is one of the important agencies in the development
of this community. It does not seek to do this work by itself or
for its own glory but it has a vital role to play in cooperation with all
other institutions in this area. The Journal consciously strives to
be a good player on a strong community team.
The Journal has the special responsibility of
providing news and advertising messages as well as editorially expressing the
honest convictions of its Editor and Publisher without fear or favor. It
has always endorsed the slogan adopted many years ago by its founder, "Be
Just, Fear Not.''
3. The Daily Journal is an independent, locally owned newspaper. It
does not editorially endorse nor oppose city or county political candidates. Its
Editor and Publisher believe that in a county of this size the people are well
enough acquainted with the candidates to make their own decisions. The
Journal is not a propagandist for or against any faction. It has
endorsed or opposed candidates for district, state and national offices
whenever it has seen fit to do so but it does not believe that a newspaper's
worth or influence is to be measured by being for or against a particular
person or party.
The Journal has always opposed corruption and
inefficiency in office and called for the election of honest men and women
dedicated to the service of the people.
4. Having bought a bankrupt bi-weekly from a bankrupt bank in the
middle of a depression the Publisher knows that a newspaper must be
financially strong if it hopes to survive during times of economic stress or
withstand public or private pressure. For that reason this
newspaper never declared a dividend during the first thirty-four years of the
present ownership. This policy enabled the Journal Publishing
Company to become strong enough to survive any threat as well as render
increasing service to the Community.
5. This Publisher believes that a local newspaper and other local
business institutions must go far beyond written or oral support of worthwhile
causes. This newspaper has a responsibility to freely give manpower
and money to assist organizations that are seeking to make the Tupelo area a
better place in which to live.
6. The Journal believes that informed, enlightened and active
citizens constitute the only sure foundation of a democracy. Therefore,
the Journal seeks to become one of the best NEWSpapers in America in cities of
comparable size.
7. Unless a newspaper is read by the people it cannot effectively
serve its community. For that reason more emphasis is placed on an
ever larger circulation that in any other small city in America. The
Journal is interested in serving people throughout North Mississippi because
it believes that it can help the people of this area help themselves grow and
develop in every aspect of their lives.
8. No city, no county is an island to itself alone. All
of us go forward together or we tend to stagnate together. Whatever
any one community can do to render service to its people is beneficial to
everyone in the larger community or region. For this reason the
Journal has for many years supported rural development and the development of
human resources in every county or city in this region.
9. A basic obligation of any business institution is to provide for
its own employees. Many years ago the Journal management started
pension programs to help care for the needs of its retired employees. It
also has a profit sharing, guaranteed annual wages, payroll insurance in case
of sickness, as well as hospital and life insurance.
10. We are convinced both by the experience of this business
institution and by careful study that the most basic foundation on which the
life of an individual or of an institution can be erected is the one found in
Luke 6:38 "Give, and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down,
shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For the
measure you give will be the measure you get back.'' There is far
more real TRUTH in this than in anything that Adam Smith, the father of
Capitalism, or Karl Marx, the father of Communism, ever said. This
basic principle, whether openly expressed or not, has had a great deal to do
with the development of the Daily Journal. We believe that the
development throughout Northeast Mississippi is due to this same unselfish,
cooperative helpfulness that has characterized the majority of the people in
this area. We believe that the ethical and spiritual standards and
attainments of each person in our community are the basic standard by which we
should be measured. If we simply become materialistic minded
people, we shall have lost the vital spirit that makes Tupelo and this area
distinctive. We pledge the best efforts of this newspaper and its
staff to the promotion and realization of a better life for every person in
every aspect of existence.
our publications
The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal
In 1872 Major George
Herndon bought a Tupelo paper which had been founded in 1870 and renamed it
the Journal. This weekly paper was later known as the Lee County
Journal, the Mississippi Journal, and then the Tupelo Journal. When
the paper became a daily in 1936, the name was changed to the Daily Journal. Today
we are the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, a name that reflects our
growth and regional service area.
Since its inception, the Journal has endeavored
to bring news and editorials of high moral value to the citizens of this area. From
its earliest days the Journal's policy has been to reflect community life in
its highest aspects. Its first motto ``Be just, fear not'' was
adopted in 1872. Later under the editorship of George A. McLean, a
second motto ``A locally owned newspaper dedicated to the service of God and
Mankind'' was added. The Journal strives to live up to these two
philosophies in its editorial policies in what we print as well as in what we
do not print.
The
Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal is a unique newspaper as reflected by our
purpose to serve God and Mankind. We work to uplift the economic,
social and spiritual level of our home region rather than having concern only
for the bottom line. However, management recognizes that in order
to be independent enough not to be intimidated by any group, the paper must be
financially strong.
Some of the most notable community
contributions made by the Journal throughout our history include the
establishment of the Rural Community Development Council (RCDC) program in the
1930's. This program linked Tupelo with smaller rural communities
throughout the area. In 1948, the Journal, along with other
business leaders helped establish the Community Development Foundation (CDF). This
organization has put in place one of the most comprehensive economic
development efforts in the South. It has contributed to a higher
quality of life in our region. The building of warehouses by the
Journal in the 1950's and 1960's was another part of our commitment to support
local industrial development.
More recently, the Journal pioneered in the
field of education, initiating the Lee County Reading Aide Program. This
program placed an assistant teacher in the first and then second grades of all
Lee County schools in order to raise the reading level of all students. In
1982 this model program was adopted by the state Legislature which now
provides an assistant in every first, second and third-grade classroom
throughout Mississippi. In 1985 the Journal supported area
legislators, educators and other private leaders in a collective effort to
adequately fund public schools within a 24-county area known as the Chickasaw
Cession Territory. For more than 50 years efforts to raise this
funding from $60,000 per year to a fair share, approximately equal to the rest
of the state, had failed. A $5 million commitment to our home
region was approved this year.
It is our goal to bring into the homes of all
our subscribers world, national, state, and local news; to furnish them
provoking and informative editorials; to acquaint them with the best products
sold by a variety of businesses; and to help build and develop Northeast
Mississippi. The Journal will continue to exercise its
responsibility to the citizens of Northeast Mississippi by initiating and
participating in worthwhile community projects.
"A Locally Owned Newspaper Dedicated to
the Service of God and Mankind"
By George McLean
The owners of the Journal Publishing Company are
so committed to local ownership and responsible service to all the people of
this area that plans have been put into effect to enable the Northeast
Mississippi Daily Journal to be perpetually owned and operated by local
people. We believe that a newspaper is a public trust and that it
should constantly serve the people to the greatest possible extent. We
feel that this service must include not only the contribution made through the
printed word but also through the active involvement of members of its staff
in every worthwhile civic undertaking.
We believe that locally owned newspapers can
best reflect the values and serve the interests of the people of any
community. We regard the increasing concentration of ownership of
newspapers, radio, and television stations in the hands of a few big chains as
potentially very dangerous to freedom of information in this country. Another
serious problem with increasing outside control of the media is that the
``bottom line,'' that is the desire for more and more profits, will take the
place of service to readers, listeners or advertisers. We are not
unaware of the fact that in some cases local ownership is just as biased and
selfish as in the case of some chain operations. But in the
majority of locally owned newspapers there is a sense of responsibility to the
community and pride in its development that is lost or greatly diminished when
the newspapers is sold to outside interests. We believe that the
greatness of a newspaper should be judged not by its size of profitability,
but by the quality of its news and advertising and particularly by the service
it renders to all the people in the area it serves.
It is for this reason that the Northeast
Mississippi Daily Journal invests large sums of money in the schools of Lee
County to provide reading aids in all first grade classes. By
having more personal attention students are encouraged to learn to read and to
enjoy reading. The Daily Journal also invests money and the time of
its staff each year to help provide better jobs for all the people.
Because we live here and love the people of this
community we have sought to be a constructive force in this area. We
are proud of the people who are employed at the Daily Journal. We
are happy that we have a payroll in excess of one million dollars a year and
that our long time employees have life time security from our pension fund,
life insurance, and hospital insurance, all of which are provided at no cost
to the employees.
The Daily Journal is a responsible newspaper
that does not believe every time a donkey brays it has to publicize the event. Since
some people are seeking to set one group against another, we at the Journal
believe our staff has the responsibility of deciding what is constructive and
what is destructive. Equally, the staff must decide what is
newsworthy and what is a waste of space and newsprint. A newspaper
or other news media should be judged as much by what it refuses to print or
broadcast as by what it does.
We believe that persons are of infinite
importance on this planet and in the universe; that God is our Father and is
not an abstract force; that God is a God whose mighty acts in history reveal
his nature. He is a God of everlasting love "who practices
kindness, justice, and righteousness in the earth,'' as Jeremiah said. This
was supremely revealed in Jesus of Nazareth "who came not to be served
but to serve and give his life for others.''
We believe that persons--men and women, boys and
girls--are the instruments God uses to accomplish His purpose in the world. We
do not believe great things are accomplished by throwing more programs or more
systems into the solution of problems. We have tried this
impersonal, materialistic approach in government, in education, in welfare and
we are losing the battle. Better persons are the only building
blocks for lasting progress. For that reason, we want to help
people grow and develop and become what they have the capacity and desire to
become. This applies to each of our employees. We are
genuinely interested in them. At the Daily Journal we work as a
team.
We firmly believe that it is more blessed to
give than to receive; that the measure we give will be the measure we receive. This
applies in a business. If any one of the following
groups--management, labor, consumer--is out for all it can get, there will
inevitably develop the feeling that others are "enemies or suckers''
rather than recognizing that they should be friends working together to
achieve something worthwhile for all. Cooperation and unselfish
service create a better company or community, whereas conflict and selfishness
inevitably destroy a company, a community, or a nation.
The Chickasaw Journal
The Itawamba County Times
The Monitor-Herald
The Monroe Journal
The New Albany News-Exchange
The Pontotoc Progress
The Southern Advocate
The Southern Sentinel
what we offer
We feature content from the Northeast Mississippi
Daily Journal, The Chickasaw Journal, The Itawamba County Times, The Monitor-Herald,
the Monroe Journal, the New Albany News-Exchange, the Pontotoc progress, the Southern Advocate,
and the Southern Sentinel providing you with an unprecedented variety of coverage
for the North Mississippi area. You can take advantage of our combined
content as the default view of djournal.com, or choose to browse our other sites
through the navigation menu on the left of each page.
"The Good Newspaper"
By George A. McLean
The good newspaper should be a catalyst in its community, oiling the
efforts of widely varying groups to achieve a reasonably smooth, balanced flow
of progress. It seeks to provide coherence to scattered and sometimes
conflicting objectives, enabling its community to get a better view of
priorities and ways in which joint efforts may prove better than splintered
activities.
The good newspaper is its community's encourager which by making known what
groups and individuals are doing brings mutual support for each other's
projects and invites still greater personal initiative. It is a community's
semi-official provider of pats on the back through news stories, pictures or
editorials. The good newspaper can contribute perhaps more than any other
institution to development of an active, mutually serving citizenship.
The good newspaper seeks to promote a spirit of neighborliness, by the
features it carries on the activities, the hopes and concerns of the
"average" citizen. The good newspaper knows most life is lived by
small people and their activities deserve a word, however brief, in reporting
the news. It seeks ways to say "yes" rather than "no" to
requests from its readers or the general public. It is warm, not cold;
flexible, not rigid, in meeting each day's challenges.
The good newspaper should be a friend of its community, limiting criticism
to needs for improvements rather than condemning shortcomings.
The good newspaper carries stories about progressive undertakings and
methods, which can be profitably imitated by its own community, recognizing
that the good example of others is frequently effective; creating the
impression that "if others can do it, so can we."
The good newspaper will not merely report but will enlighten, recognizing
that the typical citizen may be limited in his understanding of government,
economics, human relations, etc., but frequently is eager for broader
understanding when the information is presented in an interesting, credible
manner.
The staff of the good newspaper develops expertise not merely to propose
progress, but to assume active leadership in bringing it about even though
this involves leaving the impartial, isolated ivory tower and involves one in
activities which may stir controversy.
The good newspaper is one of the hardest workers and most generous givers
in civic affairs but does not seek to dominate the community in a way that
causes others to say, "Let the paper do it."
`The good newspaper is an economic tool for personal and community
progress. It recognizes its advertising as being of major value to the
community as is its news and should try to maintain the integrity of its ads
as it does that of news stories.
The good newspaper serves as an educational institution, takes up where a
college degree or institutional walls may stop, teaches life as it actually is
being lived without effort to conceal human frailties but seeks to help
maintain faith and hope in human potential and human progress, emphasizes the
good more than the bad.
The good newspaper reaches out as far as it can touch or see to bring to
its readers new ideas, new approaches to life, new methods of meeting
problems, and new information which adds interest or joy to life. The good
newspaper recognizes that boredom is one of the great burdens in many lives;
therefore it does not hesitate to provide entertainment and pleasure as well
as educational material. But at all times seeks to maintain good taste
throughout its columns.
The good newspaper adopts as one of its major objectives the unobtrusive
establishment of a definite tone in its community built around high ethical
standards, a cooperative spirit, a broadly based tolerance among all groups, a
yearning for personal and community growth, a belief in God, service to man
and hope for a better tomorrow.
frequently asked questions
How do I contact djournal.com?
You can send postal mail to:
djournal.com
Post Office Box 909
Tupelo, Mississippi 38802-0909
Or call (662) 842-2611 for sales or billing questions.
We also welcome your comments via e-mail at DJWebmaster@djournal.com.
Please note that this address is for comments about the site only.
Who do I contact about advertising on your site?
For sales information, please contact Lisa Bryant
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