Magnolia Report gives
inside look at Mississippi
Politics
by Julia Whitehead
DBJ Contributing Writer
Sid Salter was recently quoted as attributing our colorful political landscape to our penchant for taking political talk to the
same level as we do talk about our favorite sports teams-so if Mississippi politics were simply a spectator sport, the Magnolia
Report Headlines web site would be the scouting report on who’s up, who’s down, and who’s twisting in the political
winds of Jackson, the coast, and north Mississippi.
The Magnolia Report comes in two flavors: a web site (www.magnoliareport.com) updated daily with links to political
news from around Mississippi, as well as national reports that relate to Mississippi political issues and personalities and
messages from political campaigns; and an email summary filled with backroom details and political chat of what’s going on
in Mississippi’s political scene emailed twice a month to some 3,000 interested subscribers.
Who’s behind it? The operation was originally called the Nick Walters Political Report and was circulated by Walters
through email for nine months beginning in October 2000. Brian Perry, now serving Representative Chip Pickering as communications
director, took it over in July 2001 and added a daily-updated web site, filled with links to political news of the
day, political organizations, media groups, and assorted advocacy groups of all stripes-and saw it take off as a force in Mississippi
politics just as Mississippi political groups were discovering the power of the internet to disseminate information
and news to interested parties.
“Some paper may do a very important story, but it doesn’t get picked up by the wire services. The web page gave people
a place to go,” said Perry.
Perry was at the helm during some of the most interesting political developments of the Ronnie Musgrove administration,
including Lt. Governor Amy Tuck’s announcement that she was switching to the Republican Party and the announcement that
Musgrove and his wife, Melanie Musgrove, were filing for divorce. “We either had it up first or at the same time as any of
the news outlets,” said Perry, who was working as editorial page director for a Madison County paper at the time.
In February 2003, however, Perry was getting ready to leave Mississippi for his new job in Washington and felt like he
couldn’t continue doing the Magnolia Report at that point. He believed he needed someone who was well-versed both in Mississippi
politics and the technical aspects of running a web site and email list-so he hit on Josh Gregory, an old friend who
was also a freelance technology consultant and political junkie all rolled into one.
Gregory has now been compiling the Magnolia Report for about a year, weathering the political firestorm around Ronnie
Musgrove’s alleged candidacy for the Delta State University president’s job and the just-completed gubernatorial campaign.
Gregory has a routine down pat for updating the web site-he reads 30-40 news sites per day, adding links that look interesting,
unusual, or informative to the site each morning. Ninety percent of the links are local sources with a few national
ones thrown into the mix. Gregory sees the “Headlines” feature as a way to bring all the news together in one place.
“People don’t want to look at 30 different news sites and ten different campaign sites,” said Gregory. “They want to
be able to go to one site.”
Gregory admits to linking The Sun-Herald and The Clarion-Ledger the most often, citing both papers’ strengths in coverage.“They’ve got the best Mississippi news wire section,” Gregory said of The Sun-Herald. The Clarion-Ledger gets links
mostly for legislative news and analysis. “They’re more involved in the session than any other paper because they’re based
in Jackson,” Gregory said.
Naming names is the particular forte of the Magnolia Report-in the most recent issue of the emailed Report under the subhead“Who’s Quacking Now?” Gregory examines the new House budget and thinks some pot-calling-the-kettle-black is in
order: “The following, who all voted for the $17.6 million in new fees in the House budget, promised voters not to vote for
a tax increase when they signed the American’s for Tax Reform ‘Taxpayer Protection Pledge’”. He goes on to list six
Democrats and three Republicans voting ‘yea’ on the House budget bill.
Gregory has his sources in the Capitol and the media, and he’s not shy about calling them up for some confidential chat
when the rumor mill starts turning. “I know exactly who I’m going to call because they trust me not to reveal my sources,
and I trust them to give me good information,” said Gregory.
He operates in a bit of a gray area-he’s not exactly a traditional media outlet, so he feels less constrained about reporting
on rumor (carefully identified as such) than a regular newspaper might be. He doesn’t always worry about getting confirmation
from multiple sources of his scoops. “I guess I trust some (sources) more than others,” Gregory said.
The Report drew national media attention during Perry’s tenure and has been cited in stories from The Washington Times
and ABCnews.com, with Perry appearing once on Fox News as a commentator. The attention has led some casual readers to
interesting ideas about the Report, according to Gregory. “I’ve had a lot of people email me and think we have a big office
with a paid staff,” Gregory said.
One definite fan of the Magnolia Report is Lydia Chassaniol of Winona, owner of The Sample Room restaurant. She believes
she found out about the Magnolia Report when a friend emailed her a copy a few years ago. “I think it’s a nice concept,”
said Chassaniol. “I’ve always heard that we would one day get our news through the computer, and I guess this is the beginning.”
Chassaniol is a self-confessed political junkie of Republican persuasion, who also reads The Clarion-Ledger, the Winona
Times, and the Greenwood Commonwealth and is an avid listener to the local Supertalk Mississippi affiliate station. However,
the “Headlines” feature on the web site is her favorite way to keep up with the news all day long. “It’s a way to read
the news with a freshness that comes from watching the news as it happens,” said Chassaniol. “You can click on things
quickly-you can get something from the New York Times and you don’t have to subscribe to all these different papers.”
That timeliness is the key to the site’s appeal-and puts it on the cutting edge of how political discourse is done in the electronic
age. “The Internet is cheap and can be used by people with minimal technical skills, and you can still compete with
traditional news outlets,” said Perry.
Expect the digital revolution to continue to transform political campaigns in the state. “It’s the quickest way for campaigns
to get their message out the way they want it out-where they can control it. It’s made it a thousand times easier for
politicians to communicate with their constituents and their base,” said Gregory.
Perry keeps up with his home state and with Gregory by continuing to click on the Magnolia Report whenever he has time
to do so. “The great thing about not doing the Magnolia Report anymore is I can go and read it and enjoy the stories,” Perry
said.
Chassaniol agrees. “It’s just a good way to keep up with what’s going on.” DBJ
