The Red and Black

Issue date: 4/23/09 Section: News

MITCHELL [Click to enlarge]

Persistence.

That's what investigative reporter Jerry Mitchell said it took to endure death threats and intimidation from members of the Ku Klux Klan while he dug for the truth about civil rights cases in Mississippi.

"It always bothered me when people got away with crime, corruption and things like that," Mitchell said in a phone interview Monday. "That's what made me persist."

The McGill program at Grady College is honoring Mitchell next week with the McGill Medal, an award given to a reporter who has exhibited "journalistic courage," said John Greenman, who oversees the McGill program.

"For me, journalistic courage means not just doing your job, but going the extra mile to do your job," said Brian Creech, a McGill fellow who helped select Mitchell for the award.

But Creech, a graduate student from Zebulon, N.C., said journalistic courage is difficult to define.

"You know it when you see it," said Creech in a phone interview Tuesday. "It just sort of jumps out at you."

Over time, journalistic courage will come to be defined by the recipients of the award, Greenman said. Though Mitchell is the medal's first honoree, Greenman, a Grady professor, said he hopes the list of medalists will become a touchstone for determining what journalistic courage involves.

For the McGill fellows, Mitchell is the perfect first name on the list, two fellows said.

"[Mitchell] is an excellent person," said Marona Graham-Bailey, a McGill fellow. "He obviously demonstrates what journalistic courage is, no matter what your definition is."

Mitchell, who writes for Mississippi's Clarion-Ledger, was instrumental in investigating the 1963 assassination of NAACP Leader Medgar Evers. Nearly three decades later, Mitchell's reporting helped put Evers's killer, Byron de la Beckwith, behind bars. In addition to Beckwith, Mitchell has helped bring three other Klansmen to justice.

"He's engaging in something a lot of people have forgotten about," Graham-Bailey said in a phone interview Tuesday. "He's writing in the present, but he's also trying to remember the past."

The McGill fellows - 12 undergraduate and graduate journalism students - reviewed several nominees and ultimately decided Mitchell was the best recipient for the medal.

"I feel so, so honored," Mitchell said. "Ralph McGill was a hero of mine."

The medal is named for Ralph McGill, an editor and publisher, who fought segregation during the Civil Rights Movement through his editorials in The Atlanta Constitution. He received the Pulitzer Prize in 1958 for editorial writing.

The McGill fellows had the opportunity to hear Mitchell speak at the 2008 McGill Symposium last fall.

"What was striking about Mitchell was that he is still quite positive," said Graham-Bailey, a graduate student from Adairsville. "He still has a positive outlook, but the work that he does is intense. [He has to] interview people that hate, but [he] still maintains a positive vibe and a positive outlook on life."

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