In 2005, the Hattiesburg American received Gannett's 10th Freedom of Information Award for outstanding work on behalf of the First Amendment.

[3] In settlement documents filed in federal court in Jackson, Mississippi, the U.S. government conceded that the U.S.

Marshals Service violated federal law when a marshal ordered reporters with the Associated Press and the Hattiesburg American to erase their recordings of a 2004 speech given by Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia at a high school in Hattiesburg.

In 2010, Gannett announced its intention to sell the 38,000 square foot (3,500 square meter) building which housed the Hattiesburg American operations at 825 North Main Street, and an agreement was reached with a Hattiesburg Commercial Realtor to sell the building.

[1] In 2017, Nathan Edwards, President of the Hattiesburg American, announced that the newspaper would stop its seven-days-a-week print production and publish on three days a week (Wednesday, Friday and Sunday), beginning April 5, 2017.