Gerard Edic covers the effects of gun violence on LeFlore County in the Mississippi Delta at The Greenwood Commonwealth. This marks his second stint at the newspaper, where he began his journalism career as a general assignment reporter. Most recently, Edic worked at PBS News, where he assisted with research and editorial production for PBS News Weekend and Washington Week with The Atlantic. He also co-produced various segments for PBS News Weekend, including tensions in the South China Sea, gang violence in Haiti, and school lunch junk fees. Edic has also edited pieces submitted by incarcerated writers for Prison Journalism Project and wrote about policy issues at The American Prospect. Edic earned his master’s degree in journalism, focusing on business and economics reporting, at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY. Edic has won several awards from the Mississippi Press Association’s Better Newspaper Media Contest, including the Bill Minor Prize for General News Reporting for a piece assessing the community impact of record-high homicides in Leflore County in 2020. Edic is an avid runner and loves to cook.
Beat: Effects of gun violence on an impoverished county in the Mississippi Delta
During the past several years, Leflore County statistically averages one murder about every two weeks. With this, the county continues to experience the growing issue of gun violence. This beat investigates the systemic causes of gun violence in a small Mississippi Delta county, such as racial inequities, high poverty rates, a declining health care system and educational system, and the psychological toll gun violence can take on a community. It also investigates the judicial system after arrests are made.