The Daily Mississippian

About The Daily Mississippian

The Daily Mississippian, commonly called The DM, is the student newspaper of the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Mississippi. The first issue of The Mississippian was published in 1911. It is operated as an independent student-run newspaper and is published in print one day a week and online daily. It is the only college newspaper in Mississippi to be a full member of the state press association, and it competes in the Mississippi Press Association's Better Newspaper Contest against professional daily newspapers. Part of the S. Gale Denley Student Media Center, it is headquartered at 201 Bishop Hall in Oxford, and its website, thedmonline.com, has offered daily updates since 1996.

Founded in 1911

The first issue of The Mississippian was published in 1911, establishing a student newspaper at the University of Mississippi in the early twentieth century. The University of Mississippi's digital archive at eGrove preserves searchable issues of the paper stretching back through the decades, including issues from 1930, 1931 and 1940 that document campus life in Oxford during the Great Depression and the approach of World War II. The paper's long run makes it one of the principal documentary records of student life at Ole Miss, chronicling the university's growth from a small Southern institution into a major public research university.

The DM nickname

The paper is universally known on campus as The DM, a shorthand that reflects its deep integration into daily life at the University of Mississippi. The nickname appears in the paper's own branding and in the way students, faculty and alumni refer to the publication. Over more than a century, The DM has become an institution in Oxford in its own right, as recognizable a part of the university's identity as its athletics programs and academic traditions.

Independent operation

Although The Daily Mississippian is located on the Ole Miss campus and owned by the University of Mississippi, it is operated largely as an independent newspaper run by students. The DM staff consists of approximately fifteen editors, along with a couple dozen reporters and photographers, though these numbers vary from year to year and semester to semester. There is also a separate staff devoted entirely to advertising sales and production. The paper's independence allows it to report on university administration and campus affairs without institutional control, a posture that has been tested through some of the most contentious episodes in the university's history.

Print and circulation

The DM publishes in print on Thursdays during the fall and spring semesters, and occasionally during the June and July summer terms. It has a daily print circulation of 9,000 during the fall and spring semesters. In earlier decades the paper published five times a week with a circulation reported at 15,000, making it one of the largest college newspapers in the country. The shift to a weekly print schedule with daily online updates reflects the broader transformation of collegiate journalism, in which digital platforms carry the daily publishing rhythm once sustained by the printing press.

A member of the state press association

The DM is the only college newspaper in Mississippi to be a full member of the Mississippi Press Association, and it competes in the association's Better Newspaper Contest against professional daily newspapers. This unusual status places the student paper in direct competition with the state's professional press, a testament to the professional standards of its student staff. The staff has won numerous national, regional and state awards, and the paper's willingness to measure itself against professional dailies distinguishes it among American college newspapers.

The Student Media Center

The DM is part of the S. Gale Denley Student Media Center at Ole Miss, which brings together the university's student publications and broadcast outlets. The Director of Student Media reports to the Dean of the School of Journalism and New Media, placing the paper within the university's journalism education infrastructure while preserving its student-run editorial character. The center model reflects the modern organization of collegiate media, in which print, digital and broadcast student outlets share resources and training while maintaining separate editorial identities.

Sister outlets in student media

The S. Gale Denley Student Media Center brings together the Daily Mississippian with the university's other student media outlets, creating a shared home for print, digital and broadcast journalism at Ole Miss. Among its sister outlets is WUMS-FM 92.1 Rebel Radio, a student-operated radio station, and NewsWatch, a student-produced live newscast broadcast Monday through Friday. The collaboration between the outlets was visible during major breaking-news events, when the DM's website carried radio and video reports from its sister student broadcast stations alongside the newspaper staff's own updates, stories and photographs. The center model gives student journalists experience across media formats while each outlet retains its own editorial identity, and the DM remains the flagship print and digital news publication of the group.

Digital publishing

The DM's website, thedmonline.com, began offering daily updates in 1996, placing the paper among the early adopters of online publishing in collegiate journalism. The website carries the paper's daily reporting on the university, Oxford city affairs, Mississippi politics and Ole Miss athletics, while the Thursday print edition provides a weekly digest and showcase for longer-form journalism and photography. The early move online allowed the paper to reach alumni and readers far beyond Oxford, extending its audience well past the campus distribution points of its print edition.

Digitized archives

The University of Mississippi's eGrove digital repository hosts a fully searchable archive of digitized Daily Mississippian issues, allowing researchers to browse the paper's coverage across the decades. Issues from the 1930s through the 1990s are available with searchable text and downloadable full text, opening the paper's century of reporting to scholars, alumni and the public. The archive preserves the paper's front pages, articles, photographs and advertisements, offering a granular record of how students at Ole Miss experienced the major events of the twentieth century.

Coverage through turbulent history

The DM's history is inseparable from the turbulent history of the University of Mississippi itself. In 1952, editor Albin Joseph Krebs wrote editorials advocating that Black students be admitted to Ole Miss, and a cross was burned outside his window in response; Krebs went on to a distinguished career writing obituaries for The New York Times and reporting for Newsweek on the 1962 admission of James Meredith, the university's first Black student. A decade later, the campus newspaper was dominated by moderates even as the university became the focus of national attention during Meredith's enrollment in September 1962. The paper's coverage of these episodes forms a central part of the documentary record of desegregation in Mississippi higher education.

Crisis coverage

The paper's capacity for crisis reporting was demonstrated during the fraternity house fire of August 27, 2004, in which three students died. Though news of the fire broke after the Friday edition had been printed, the DM staff posted updates, stories, photos, and radio and video reports from the paper's sister student broadcast stations on its website throughout the weekend, and the Monday print edition carried in-depth coverage including profiles of the victims and a timeline of events. The episode reminded the university community of how essential the paper and its affiliated outlets were to the campus, with national audiences turning to the student journalists for news from Oxford. Through more than a century of publication, The Daily Mississippian has continued to serve as the independent student voice of the University of Mississippi.