Steph Quinn joins Mississippi Today as Roy Howard Fellow

Mississippi Today is pleased to announce that Steph Quinn has joined the newsroom as a Roy Howard Fellow focusing on investigative journalism. 

In this role, Quinn will work directly with the investigative reporting team at Mississippi Today with a specific focus on criminal justice. 

“I’m so pleased to have Steph Quinn join our team,” said senior investigative reporter Jerry Mitchell, who oversees the criminal investigative reporting team at Mississippi Today. “She’s a talented young investigative reporter who is already helping us expose law enforcement abuses by the Rankin County ‘Goon Squad’ and others as well as examine the state’s criminal justice system.”

Quinn graduated in May 2024 with a master’s degree from the University of Maryland’s Philip Merrill College of Journalism. She reported on juvenile justice for Capital News Service and was chosen as a student leader on two projects at UMD’s Howard Center for Investigative Journalism, including a partnership with the Associated Press on police use of force. Quinn also reported on Minnesota’s fragmented system of oversight of animal rescue organizations as an intern at the Minnesota Star Tribune.

With a Ph.D. in history, Quinn brings to her reporting years of experience researching how Black migrant laborers and women shaped urban life in Namibia during apartheid. After earning her doctorate in 2019, she held a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of the Free State in South Africa.

“I’m honored to join the talented journalists reporting on criminal justice at Mississippi Today,” Quinn said. “There’s a sign in the newsroom that says, ‘We ain’t done yet.’ The team’s track record and determination to continue pursuing accountability and justice make me really excited to get to work.”