We got us a new Sports Editor for Jackson newspaper

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Josh Capers, a longtime journalist in the USA Today Network, is the new sports editor of the Clarion Ledger and Hattiesburg American.

Capers has been with Gannett since 2007. He started at The Citzen-Times in Asheville, North Carolina. In Asheville, he was a copy editor, writer and designer, .

In 2011, he started working for the Louisville Design Studio out of The Courier Journal in Louisville, Kentucky.

"I'm thrilled to be named the new sports editor of the Clarion Ledger," Capers said. "It's a great opportunity and a great place for sports. A lot of people share a passion for sports like I do. It'll be great to lead a team to share stories in a community that cares so much about sports."

Two things that attracted Capers to Mississippi were that it sits in SEC country and the Egg Bowl rivalry. As far as SEC experience goes, Capers worked with scout.com on South Carolina and recruiting coverage from 2009-12, as well. As a North Carolina native, he also has an understanding of the magnitude of college-sports rivalries in the south.

"We are excited to add Josh to our team," said Dave Ammenheuser, who oversees sports coverage Gannett's sports coverage in the South. "He's a veteran journalist who will bring fresh ideas to complement the special sports traditions that help make Mississippi such a special place."

The USA Today Network recently made a public pledge to do a better job diversifying its newsrooms.

"I know being an African-American in this industry, I'm a minority, for sure," Capers said. "I'm a minority in the country, but I'm a minority in this position. I hope to bring to the community a familiar face of being a Black face. Someone that represents the community that looks like a lot of people in the community."

Capers is a graduate of North Carolina A&T in Greensboro, North Carolina. His major was journalism and mass communications with a concentration in print media.

"I'm a product of an HBCU, so I have a fond appreciation for HBCUs and what they stand for," he said.

For the past year, Capers' role with the design studio has become remote, so he moved closer to his mother in North Carolina. Capers does, however, plan to move to Jackson in October.

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