The Alabama Initiative for Independent Journalism joins more than 300 nonprofit newsrooms as participants in the national NewsMatch 2021 campaign. Gifts to BirminghamWatch between Nov. 1 and Dec. 31, 2021, have the chance to be part of a one-to-one match, supported by national foundations that understand the value of fact-based, nonpartisan, independent journalism. Read more.
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Reporters witness more death than they want to, be it war, disaster, disease, crime or accidents. It’s a whole different jolt to the conscience, though, when a death is scheduled and government sanctioned. Members of the media are standard witnesses whenever a state – at least in this country – carries out a death penalty. This was in the headlines in Alabama 10 days ago when state news organizations unsuccessfully protested a decision by the state Department of Corrections to allow only one media witness to the lethal injection of an inmate. The DOC cited pandemic safety measures. The media’s interest in attending such events in numbers isn’t because they want a sensationalistic headline. Rather, it’s a watchdog role. “We are there to observe and report on the most powerful thing the state can do to a person,” said Kent Faulk, the managing producer for state news for the Alabama Media Group and a former colleague of mine. “We need to make sure they are held accountable, doing things the way they are supposed to.” Read more.
In recent years, American cities have exploded in protests against police violence. Whether the protests were over the murder of George Floyd in 2020s Minneapolis or Bonita Carter in 1970s Birmingham, these Black communities’ reactions were about more than the killings of individuals. These communities were responding to a century of police violence and murder directed at African American citizens. In his new book, “Race, Crime, and Policing in the Jim Crow South,” Brandon T. Jett, a professor of history at Florida SouthWestern State College, explores this long history of the fraught and dangerous relationship between white police and Black citizens. “Jim Crow law enforcement officers and institutions,” Jett writes, “by rule and practice, were not created to improve the lives of African Americans.” The white community wanted police to prevent and solve crime, but whites associated crime disproportionately with African Americans and saw police as the frontline enforcers of Jim Crow. Looking at three major Southern cities — Birmingham, New Orleans and Memphis — Jett finds that while African Americans had good reason to be wary of white police officers, they also needed the help and cooperation of the police to reduce or punish crimes in the Black community. Read more.
PARCA Senior Research Analyst Don Dailey, 66, died Oct. 9 after a fall at his home. Daily joined the Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama in 2017 and led research in school discipline, analysis of school performance data and evaluations of local and statewide education initiatives. Read more.
I’d have posted this sooner but I was waiting on Adam Schefter to edit it. Schefter, a National Football League “Insider” reporter for ESPN, became a target of widespread derision within the journalism community this week when the LA Times reported that Schefter sent an entire draft of a pending news story about NFL collective bargaining to a key source for review. It happened 10 years ago but is in the news now because Schefter’s action was revealed in emails that are part of current court litigation involving the key source. Read more.
The Alabama Initiative for Independent Journalism has announced the retirement of Carol Nunnelley, founding executive director of the organization. Nunnelley joined Jerry Lanning and Mark Kelly to found AIIJ in 2014 and became its first executive director in 2015. Nunnelley led AIIJ through the creation of its publishing arm, BirminghamWatch, and fostered steady growth in reporting and readership. Key projects included nonpartisan voter guides for local elections and a series on the Legacy of Race. Read more.
When a natural disaster strikes a community, residents go to shelter. Public safety workers and journalists go to work. News organizations usually prioritize the safety of reporters in the field during such events. Often, it’s the reporters who will push the limits on safety in order to deliver vital news to the public. Ethical managers talk them out of it. But there’s no shortage of instances of reporters subjecting themselves to the brutality of nature to report a weather story. Their aim is to show the public the truth about the conditions. Their critics call it reckless showboating. Read more.
Paying for information is a much frowned-upon practice in journalism. Fortunately, it rarely happens. Except, of course, when a media organization pays for a newsworthy photo or video. Or for breaking news tips from sources (think TMZ paying police officers). Or to cover a source’s pre-interview expenses. Or for subject experts to appear regularly on shows. Or for coaches and athletes to do weekly programs. Or for event broadcast rights. The latest incarnation is emerging in the world of sports, where college athletes can now make money from endorsements, appearances and interviews. Read more.
WATCH: Former President Donald Trump Speaks at Alabama Rally (CBS 42) Trump Holds Rally in Cullman (Cullman Times) Donald Trump Booed at Alabama Rally After Encouraging Crowd to Get COVID-19 Vaccine (Newsweek) Mo Brooks Booed After Telling Trump Rally Crowd to Move Past 2020 Election (AL.com) Trump Holds Rally in Cullman, Alabama News Network Political Analyst Steve Flowers Weighs In (Alabama News Network) Trump Supporters Pack Farm in Cullman for Rally (WAAY) Trump's Rally in Alabama Is a Boon for Mo Brooks' Senate Campaign (CNN)
Among a cascade of memorable Olympics stories over the years, I especially remember the tale of a guy who finished last. During the 1992 Summer Games in Barcelona, Great Britain’s Derek Redmond tore a hamstring muscle in the middle of his 400-meters semifinal and collapsed. He got up and, in anguish, began limping toward the finish line. His father rushed from the stands and onto the track, grabbed him, and propped him up as he tried to complete the race. Near the end, the father let go of him, and Redmond hobbled across the line on his own to a standing ovation. Today it remains a famous moment of determination and inspiration. But really, he probably should have stayed down and let the medics come get him. I contrast that story with the decision of four-time gold medal winner Simone Biles to withdraw during the gymnastics team finals last week at the current Games in Tokyo. After an unexpectedly flawed rotation on the vault, Biles said stress and mental health concerns prevented her from continuing in that and other events (though she did rejoin for the balance beam competition on Tuesday). Read more.
