Here’s the problem: 53% of those we spoke to in the past year were white men, many who are elected officials. This is a problem in journalism across the country because many people who talk to the media frequently — politicians, spokespeople and department heads, among others — are white men. Mississippi Today has faced the exact same problem and failed to find people who are representative of all Mississippi. This is problematic as we are not able to talk to people of different races, socio-economic backgrounds, genders, ages, and regions. We created a committee in May to address this problem. It will examine how journalism is done and what could be improved. Each staff reporter went through all the stories from the previous year and looked at the reasons why. This information was used by the committee to brainstorm ways we could do better writing about Mississippi’s diverse communities. While we have many ideas in the works, there is one that needs your attention. Mississippi Today wants to increase the number of people we talk to regularly for stories. We want to have regular conversations with people from every corner of Mississippi, especially those who come from underrepresented backgrounds. You are deserved to be part of the newsmaking. Mississippi needs you.