The Mississippi Press Association celebrated its 150th anniversary last week at the Golden Nugget casino in Biloxi.
After the Mississippi Bar Association and the Mississippi State Medical Association, it is the oldest state professional association.
Unlike the legal and medical professions, the newspaper industry is actually a manufacturing enterprise. It makes an actual product that comes off a printing press. That makes the longevity of newspapers even more impressive. No other manufactured product has had such staying power.
As president of Emmerich Newspapers, I oversee 26 community newspapers, primarily in Mississippi. Most of these newspapers are well over 100 years old.
As someone who daily drives two old cars, a 51-year-old Mustang and a 31-year-old Alfa Romeo, pilots a 37-year-old airplane and sails a 30-year-old boat, I suppose the newspaper industry is a good fit for me.
My wife sometimes complains that I get fixated on older things. It is true, I tell her, that I prefer to stick with something I am accustomed to rather than trade it in for something new. “And you should consider that a good thing,” I tell her while dodging the frying pan.
Every mid-June I have been making the trek down to the Coast for the annual MPA convention. I have done this now for perhaps 50 years. My father did it for 50 years. And my grandfather for 50 years. That’s a lot of family history, newspaper history and state history.
Many of these years overlapped as my father would go with his father, just as I went with my father. Back in the day, when life was more frugal, the trip to the coast for MPA was often the only family vacation of the year.
How I remember the glory days at the Buena Vista and then the Broadwater Beach Hotel! Camille took out the Buena Vista. Katrina took out the Broadwater. Life goes on.
Every year at the Broadwater Beach Hotel, we would have the same appetizer for our opening cocktail reception: huge mounds of gargantuan locally caught fresh shrimp. It was all we ever had and the only thing we needed. I miss it to this day.
Many of the rooms at the Broadwater Beach Hotel were one story and surrounded a huge outdoor pool. We would swim all night long and hang out on our room porches adjoining the pool. The fraternity and conviviality and the fun was far greater than our new casino venues.
I don’t like casinos. They smell of smoke. There’s always some old lady in the wheelchair and the oxygen mask smoking a cigarette and endlessly punching the button on the slot machine. Depressing.
The Golden Nugget was fine. Not sure why you would give a luxury casino the name of a fast food staple, but then I’m not in that business. They have a pretty cool pool with a built-in bar. It was packed and colorful.
Dozens of past presidents of the Mississippi Press Association were there. We all line up during the main lunch. I know every one of them well. I feel blessed to have been able to work with so many dedicated, competent, fun and engaging people.
During our evening banquet we inducted longtime Gulf Coast Sun Herald Editor Stan Tiner into the hall of fame. As luck would have it, Tiner had to have emergency gall bladder surgery and made his acceptance speech by Skype in his surgical gown from his hospital bed. “He’s definitely on painkillers,” we joked.
During the convention we heard panels on state politics and government. As usual, open meetings and open records were high on our list of hot topics.
In this age of Facebook and Google, the people of Mississippi need to understand and appreciate that the men and women working at Mississippi newspapers are on the front lines in the battle against government secrecy and corruption. It is a tough fight and we need your support.
My son John is named after his grandfather and great-grandfather, both of whom he never knew. He loves the MPA convention and came with Ginny and me again this year. Who knows? Maybe newspapers will survive yet another 60 years and John can have the incredible privilege I have been blessed to enjoy.
Wyatt Emmerich is the editor and publisher of The Northside Sun, a weekly newspaper in Jackson. He can be reached by e-mail at [email protected].
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 32 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.