Celebrating John Archibald’s Pulitzer while mourning the lack of talent in most newsrooms
Journalism is a strange beast. I’ve thought that for years, even before I started on this crazy adventure that is Alabama Today. What I want from those covering hard news is facts. What I want from a columnist is a fact-based argument or story with an emotional or personal hook. I don’t just want to read your opinion; I want your opinion to move me even if the emotion I feel isn’t a positive one. AL.com’s, or more aptly Alabama Media Group’s, John Archibald nails that nearly every time. Which is why he deserves his newly minted Pulitzer Prize. I like to think that my news taste are like most readers or consumers. What I want from a news story is straight down the middle, facts. If I can tell what the reporter thinks about a particular subject by time I’ve reached the end of an article, then I feel as though they have failed. If I get to the end of an article and have to pause to reflect upon my own position, or consider the story to be just a neutral factual telling of events, then the reporter has done their job. Most days I can simply look at the headline, the by-line, read a lede, and can guess exactly where the reporter is headed with their story and how they feel personally about the topic. That’s what I consider a failure by both the reporter and the outlet running their story. One of my favorite reporters of all time (doesn’t everyone have favorite reporters?) is Brendan Farrington of the Florida bureau of the Associated Press. I’ve known Brendan personally and professionally for many years, and yet I still have no idea what his politics are. That’s a dang good reporter. When I was in Florida I read nearly every story he wrote because I knew that it would do exactly what journalist are taught to do in school: write straight down the middle. Wait, are they still taught to report straight down the middle? Hard to tell these days. I resent the current state of journalism where news stories and content is heavily weighted with bias; which is part of the reason I started this site. Journalism is hard which is why it’s a profession that used to be revered instead of mocked. It’s hard to explain a topic or situation and stay reasonably objective from your own opinions when writing. Beyond that, good journalists live by an ethics code whereby they have a duty to the public to be honest and loyal, even when they fundamentally disagree. Frankly those with the skills to do so can usually avoid journalism altogether and take jobs paying better money elsewhere. A good journalist is like a good teacher they do it for the love of the job not the accolades or pay. In fact, Mike Rosenberg of the Seattle Times yesterday tweeted, “One of today’s Pulitzer winners has already left the paper to run a brewery’s social media account. This is at least the 4th Pulitzer winner since 2015 who left for PR by the time they won. PR pays 2x more & has much more job security than journalism.” Nevertheless I believe readers need to demand more from Alabama’s newsrooms. While I do realize I live in a football state — football, crime and feature fluff-stories dominate the majority of content across most well-trafficked Alabama sites these days. I mean I love knowing the best place for burgers, hotdogs, nails, blah, blah, blah, but I find the constant lists and photo galleries lacking. I get it. That stuff makes for great click-bait, but no one’s winning a Pulitzer for 99% of the content showing up on news sites these days. And when there is award-winning journalism happening in our state, how could one be expected to find it in the stream of constant shhhhhhttuff. Back to what got me writing about the state of things, Alabama’s own John Archibald, his column nails it, most days. Even when I don’t agree with what he’s writing, which is fairly frequent, I appreciate his investigative skills, his passion and his consistency. I appreciate that every column is well-researched, well-cited and covers every base a real journalist should. He doesn’t traffic in click-bait or TMZ style gossip. Lord knows there’s plenty of that around the state to publish if he was so inclined. He focuses on issues that matter. He shapes conversation and leaves those skirting the law or ethics rightfully shaking in their boots. I know a handful of people celebrating John’s win and you can count me among them. He’s the best in Birmingham and probably in Alabama. It’s is a well-deserved award. I just wish Alabama had more of them coming our way.
GOP governors get into the ‘news’ business
Republican governors are getting into the “news” business. The Republican Governors Association has quietly launched an online publication that looks like a media outlet and is branded as such on social media. The Free Telegraph blares headlines about the virtues of GOP governors, while framing Democrats negatively. It asks readers to sign up for breaking news alerts. It launched in the summer bearing no acknowledgement that it was a product of an official party committee whose sole purpose is to get more Republicans elected. Only after The Associated Press inquired about the site last week was a disclosure was added to The Free Telegraph’s pages identifying the publication’s partisan source. The governors association describes the website as routine political communication. Critics, including some Republicans, say it pushes the limits of honest campaign tactics in an era of increasingly partisan media and a proliferation of “fake news” sites, including those whose material became part of an apparent Russian propaganda effort during the 2016 presidential campaign. “It’s propaganda for sure, even if they have objective standards and all the reporting is 100 percent accurate,” said Republican communications veteran Rick Tyler, whose resume includes Ted Cruz‘s 2016 presidential campaign. The website was registered July 7 through Domains By Proxy, a company that allows the originators of a website to shield their identities. An AP search did not find any corporate, Federal Election Commission or IRS filings establishing The Free Telegraph as an independent entity. As of early Monday afternoon, The Free Telegraph’s Twitter account and Facebook page still had no obvious identifiers tying the site to RGA. The site described itself on Twitter as “bringing you the political news that matters outside of Washington.” The Facebook account labeled The Free Telegraph a “Media/News Company.” That’s a contrast to the RGA’s Facebook page, which is clearly disclosed as belonging to a “Political Organization,” as is the account of its counterpart, the Democratic Governors Association. RGA Chairman Scott Walker, governor of Wisconsin, deferred questions through a spokesman to the group’s national staff. At RGA, spokesman Jon Thompson said the site is “just another outlet to share those positive results” of the GOP’s 34 Republican governors. It’s not unprecedented for politicians to try their hand at news distribution. President Donald Trump‘s daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, hosted “real news” video segments in the summer, posted to the president’s Facebook page. In one typical segment she told viewers she wanted to highlight “all the accomplishments the president had this week because there’s so much fake news out there.” Vice President Mike Pence, when he was Indiana governor, pitched the idea of a news agency run by state government, but he ditched the idea in 2015 after criticism. In both cases, however, Lara Trump and Pence were not aiming to hide the source of the content. But the RGA site has Democrats, media analysts and even some Republicans crying foul. Democrats say Republicans are laying the groundwork with headlines that will appear in future digital and television ads, while also providing individual voters with fodder to distribute across social media. “They’re just seeding the ground,” said Angelo Carusone, who runs Media Matters, a liberal watchdog group. “They are repackaging their opposition research so it’s there as ‘news,’ and at any moment that publication could become the defining moment of the narrative” in some state’s campaign for governor. Political communications expert Kathleen Hall Jamieson, a University of Pennsylvania professor who has studied political advertising for four decades, said The Free Telegraph commits a form of “identity theft” by “appropriating the integrity of news” because “the form of news carries credibility” that blatantly partisan sites do not. Jamieson was particularly critical of RGA’s initial failure to disclosure its involvement. “What we know about audiences is they factor in the source of information when judging that information,” she said. “If you are denying the reader, the listener or the viewer information you know the reader uses, the question is why do you feel the need to do this?” A recent RGA fundraising email said the site was “fact-checking the liberal media” and is a counter to “decades of demonizing Republicans.” Playing off President Donald Trump’s dismissal of “fake news,” the email said media “can say whatever they like about us – whether it’s true or not.” Some of The Free Telegraph’s content plays off of material from traditional media organizations and from right-leaning outlets such as The Daily Caller. RGA press releases are linked. Some headlines and photos are exact duplicates of RGA press releases. In the days after Hurricane Harvey made landfall in Texas and Louisiana, the site included headlines praising Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, for his response. There were no such headlines for Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards, a Democrat. The content is far tamer than from some sites from that popped up during the 2016 presidential campaign to propagate sensational but baseless stories. But it does create a cache of headlines that could turn up in campaigns. The first test is in this fall’s Virginia governor’s race pitting Democratic nominee Ralph Northam against Republican Ed Gillespie. Virginians already have seen another site, The Republican Standard, that is run by Virginia Republican operatives with ties to Gillespie, a former state and national party chairman, and to a firm that has been paid by the RGA. The Free Telegraph and its social media accounts frequently link The Republican Standard. Northam campaign spokesman David Turner accused Gillespie and Republicans of “creating their own Pravda,” a nod to the official newspaper of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The Gillespie campaign declined comment, referring questions back to the RGA. Republished with permission from the Associated Press.
Will Lochamy: News, at the speed of Trump
If you don’t like the current headline, just wait five minutes. I’m sitting here at 7 p.m. trying to write a relevant piece for publication at noon tomorrow. The problem is I don’t know what is going to be relevant in seventeen minutes, let alone seventeen hours. I woke up one morning swimming in jokes about people needing their morning cup of covfefe. He fell asleep mid-tweet while trying to type the word “coverage,” right? It’s no big deal. But wait… Sean Spicer says it was deliberate and the president and a small group of people know what he meant. What in the what!? Who is the small group? Is it Boris and Natasha? This is a huge deal! (Or would be in anything other than the Trump news cycle.) So I should write about covfefe, right? But to be relevant by tomorrow, I would literally have to invent a new word, expect the leader of the free world to tweet it while falling asleep, then have his team make up an excuse that raises way more questions than it answers. By the time you read this, covfefe will regrettably be old news. Maybe I should write about Kathy Griffin. It only took a few hours of daylight to be reminded that she isn’t funny. She’s apparently as mindless as she is hard on the ears. Hiring her was the second worst decision CNN has made next to having panels made up of fourteen people. We SHOULD be having a debate about free speech and how you can say insanely vile and disgusting things, right? Not happening. Instead, I’ve got to guess who will have their feelings hurt tomorrow. We are pulling out of the Paris climate accord. It’s the most nonsensical move since making up a story about covfefe being some codeword. Maybe I should write about that. The future is here, people. We have self driving cars, (fake) hoverboards, and my grandmother has figured out how to text me at 5:30 a.m. Meanwhile, rather than embracing our newfound renewable energy, we’re going to reinvest in a 2nd century technology. Yeah, that’ll show em’ who’s boss. Any other time and it would be the story of the year, yet I can’t even decide if it was the story of the day. So here we are, people of the future… although it feels like President Trump wants us to be the people of the past. If I had to guess (and I do), I’d bet that by the time you read this we will have all washed down our bacon, egg, and cheeflablah biscuit with some covfefe, opened our eyes to the fact that Gilbert Gottfried is obnoxious, and hopped in our horse-drawn carriages to fetch some asbestos-flavored lead paint to snack on. Oh, and the coral reefs are dying. ••• Will Lochamy is co-host of the radio show, “Oh Brother Radio” on Birmingham Mountain Radio (107.3FM).
Alabama Power launches Alabama NewsCenter
Alabama Power has launched a new website Alabama NewsCenter. The site will provide original news content from across the state with sections for business, community, innovation and weather. According to the Alabama Messenger, the site launched on Wednesday and will be led by veteran reporter Mike Tomberlin. Tomberlin is quoted by the Messenger as saying, “Alabama NewsCenter will provide Alabama Power customers and the media with topical information about the state’s economic development efforts, business news, and stories about the people, places and events that make Alabama a great place to live, work and play.” According to Tomberlin’s Linkedin page, he was with The Birmingham News for 17 years. He was also a member of the Alabama Natgional Guard and blogged his experiences about Afganistan in a blog titled Yellowhammering Afghanistan (though I warn you if you click the link you may get lost in his great posts). The new site helps Alabama residents cut through the static of catch-all content that many news outlets and blogs post. It helps put useful content at readers’ fingertips, a mission we at Alabama Today can relate to. We hope to see our content linked to soon. (Hint, hint Mike) From the site’s “about us” page: Alabama NewsCenter is a credible, direct source of the news and information that matter most to Alabama Power customers. Alabama NewsCenter also tells the stories of the people and businesses powering our state, striving to make Alabama a wonderful place to live and work. In keeping with Alabama Power’s century of work in economic development, Alabama NewsCenter aims to promote the good news of this state through original and shared content. This site will spotlight businesses who have found success in Alabama, economic developers who work daily to grow jobs in this state, companies and entrepreneurs doing innovative things, communities that make our quality of life so much better and people doing things both great and small that make all the difference. The stories are intended to be shared by traditional media, blogs and social media outlets or enjoyed on this site to help promote the state – its businesses, its innovation, its people and its communities. We hope this is one of the sites you return to frequently to stay informed and inspired about the state we call home. We will be following the progress and growth of this page, and from one new site to another wish them the best of luck.
