The Starkville Dispatch, launched earlier this month, is the first free daily to serve the southern U.S. state of Mississippi, Newspaper Innovation reported.

The daily is an affiliate of the paid-for Dispatch title which already circulates in other areas of the "Golden Triangle" including Mississippi and western Alabama.

The free edition will serve Starkville and the Mississsippi State University community and will also be offered for home delivery at a price of $12 a month.

In the first issue of the paper, publisher Birney Imes said in a time of "doom and gloom" for newspapers, the paper's staff "hope this expansion will show that our industry is not only viable but essential to the Golden Triangle"