“Best and Worst Week in Montgomery” is a weekly feature on Yellowhammer Politics in which we recognize the people or organizations who had the BEST week or WORST week in town.
This was a fairly slow week in Montgomery. The atmosphere in the usual lunch hotspots was decidedly more casual and the pace slowed to a crawl compared to the sprint of the legislative session. But while the lawmakers, lobbyists, and activists were enjoying some down-time, those who cover their every move were in the middle of one of their most hectic weeks in memory.
Late last week, print media in Alabama was dealt a tough blow:
Mobile, Huntsville and Birmingham papers going to 3 days a week (Wed, Fri and Sun).
I’m not personal friends with many of the folks at the state’s big newspapers — and a handfull of them aren’t big fans of Yellowhammer because I give them a hard time when their left-leaning political ideology gets in the way of the facts.
The Montgomery Advertiser (D – Montgomery) #alpolitics
But I do believe journalists hold a special place in the American political system. Now maybe more than ever, we need their watchful eyes holding our elected officials accountable.
The only winners today in Birmingham, Huntsville, Mobile and New Orleans are people who are scared of local watchdog journalism.
No one knows for sure how things will shake out. Staff reductions are inevitable — and old media companies will have to figure out how to survive in the new media world. But in the mean time, the news won’t stop…and I don’t expect those who report it will either.
Grim day in the newsroom. Many unanswered questions. What next? Put out the Friday edition.
One thing that you fail to mention is that the impending “death” of some of these publications is in large part due to their coverage of the issues. How many times can you call the 65+% of your readership who are HB56 advocates names before they say “screw you I’m not reading anymore”?
We need journalists who are actually being watchdogs. If we felt like they were looking out for us, we’d read them religiously.
This is nothing but a propaganda machine for Bentley/Hubbard/Marsh/Insert any Republican……. Propaganda against democrats. Propaganda against liberals. Propaganda against progressives. And propaganda against REAL journalists.
What I find most interesting about this post is the way it is put together compared to what you’re writing about. You are essentially writing about the impending death of traditional media and doing it in the most “new media” way possible. I still love getting my physical copy of the paper every day but the people running these papers are going to have to figure out how to do things like what was done in this post.
One thing that you fail to mention is that the impending “death” of some of these publications is in large part due to their coverage of the issues. How many times can you call the 65+% of your readership who are HB56 advocates names before they say “screw you I’m not reading anymore”?
We need journalists who are actually being watchdogs. If we felt like they were looking out for us, we’d read them religiously.
well said, Gary!!! I cancelled in January for that very reason. Did take long for them to suffer!!!
This is nothing but a propaganda machine for Bentley/Hubbard/Marsh/Insert any Republican……. Propaganda against democrats. Propaganda against liberals. Propaganda against progressives. And propaganda against REAL journalists.
What I find most interesting about this post is the way it is put together compared to what you’re writing about. You are essentially writing about the impending death of traditional media and doing it in the most “new media” way possible. I still love getting my physical copy of the paper every day but the people running these papers are going to have to figure out how to do things like what was done in this post.
good points. that second front column linked here was excellent as well.