BirminghamWatch

The Best Thing About This Post: It’s Free

To get background for this article, I wanted to read a particular article about news organizations removing their website paywalls so people could see important COVID-19 stories for free. But it was behind a paywall. I now have a new classroom example of a paradox. Many major news organizations that require digital subscriptions to view content generated much debate about the wisdom of their making COVID-19 coverage available to anyone who clicked. They cited a vital public service mission of delivering potentially lifesaving information to their communities. Critics argued that they sacrificed much-needed new revenue that would have helped to pay for continued work on this and other essential topics. This debate arose again last week. Read more.

by Tom Arenberg

BirminghamWatch Contributors Win National Awards From the NFPW

Solomon Crenshaw Jr. recently won two first-place awards and a third-place award from the National Federation of Press Women for stories he wrote for BirminghamWatch in 2020. Read more.

by BirminghamWatch

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of Careers in Journalism

A remarkable student finished my News Writing and Reporting class this past semester with an A-plus. She wants to practice law. Another remarkable student also finished with an A-plus. He wants to work in sales. Journalism is freakin’ doomed. OK, two anecdotes do not a crisis make. But I wish — unrealistically, of course — that all the talent I see in my courses would want to choose journalism as a career. Read more.

by Tom Arenberg

In The Birthplace of the Civil Rights Movement, What Changed in the Year Since George Floyd’s Murder?

The death of George Floyd at the hands of law enforcement sparked police reform efforts and organizing all over the country. But in the birthplace of the civil rights movement, there hasn’t been as much action. Read more.

by Ashley Norwood, WBHM/Gulf States Newsroom

Birmingham Activists Remember George Floyd One Year After His Death

Community activists in Birmingham called for police reform at a vigil Tuesday evening as they marked the first anniversary of the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. A few dozen people gathered at Kelly Ingram Park to remember the life of Floyd and other Black people killed by police. Aside from police reform, speakers also called for resources to be directed away from traditional law enforcement operations. Read more.

by Janae Pierre, WBHM

A Lack of Hate or Lack of Reporting?: Alabama Has Reported Zero Hate Crimes in the Past Two Years

On April 9, 2020, the Etz Chayim Synagogue in Huntsville was defaced with antisemitic graffiti. The following day, the Chabad of Huntsville was vandalized with similar hate speech. Security footage taken from both scenes indicates the same perpetrator committed both crimes. Given that they took place on the first night of the Jewish holiday Passover, the crimes are thought to be meticulously planned and executed with one purpose: to send a message of hate to the Jewish community. Mayor Tommy Battle released a statement to the public saying “the city of Huntsville condemns antisemitism in the strongest possible terms” and emphasized Huntsville as a city of inclusivity and acceptance. “Any offense against one is an offense against all,” Battle said. The case has since been handed over to the FBI, and no perpetrator has been caught. Despite these attacks against the Jewish community the state of Alabama has reported zero hate crimes to the FBI’s annual Unified Crime Report for the past two years in a row. It is the only state in the country that has reported zero hate crimes.  “It is highly implausible that in 2019 or 2018, no hate crimes were committed in Alabama. Of the over 417 law enforcement agencies in the state, only two actually participated in the 2019 reporting process to the FBI, which is deeply troubling and undoubtedly means that many hate crimes have gone unreported,” said Dr. Allison Padilla-Goodman, vice president of the Anti-Defamation League’s Southern Division. Read more.

by Michelle Love

The Tornado Outbreak of April 27, 2011: Are We Better Prepared Now?

It’s been roughly a decade since April 27, 2011, a day that marked U.S. weather history. The South saw hundreds of tornadoes, 62 of which were in Alabama. Some of the tornadoes tracked more than 80 miles long, bringing wind speeds up to 210 mph in some areas. The storm killed about 250 people in Alabama alone. On this 10-year anniversary, we’re asking the question: Are we better prepared now for a tornado outbreak than we were a decade ago? Read more.

by Miranda Fulmore, WBHM

Survivors Continue to Cope 10 Years After Historic Tornado Outbreak

The powerful tornadoes that hit Alabama 10 years ago killed hundreds and left behind significant destruction. With trauma, time doesn’t always heal. Some of the survivors continue to show the scars. Read more.

by Janae Pierre, WBHM

Philandering Politicians Can’t Hope That Reporters Won’t Care

Came across an academic article saying public officials no longer have private lives off limits from prying media and opposing political campaigns — to the detriment of public service. It was published in 1998. Imagine how things are now with heightened divisive politics, partisan news media, uncontrolled social media and a never-ending list of politicians whose horrifying activities in their private lives demand public scrutiny. The question of when the private lives of politicians deserve public exposure is a perpetual one for the press. It has arisen lately with the cases of U.S. Congressman Matt Gaetz (OK, actually zero question here) and Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill, who admitted last week to marital infidelity. Read more.

by Tom Arenberg

Columnist John Archibald Tries to Understand His Preacher-Father Through the Lens of the Civil Rights Movement

“Shaking the Gates of Hell: A Search for Family and Truth in the Wake of the Civil Rights Revolution,” by John Archibald (Knopf) A rhetorical, almost visual thread runs though John Archibald’s family memoir. The thread is silence. Silence in a noisy and violent time. Safe silence. Complicit silence. This silence haunts the author, a Pultizer Prize winning columnist for The Birmingham News and AL.com. Archibald follows in the frustrated tradition of white Southern writers — W. J. Cash, Clarence Cason, Jonathan Daniels — and writers who are children of Birmingham — Diane McWhorter, Paul Hemphill, Howell Raines — who try to understand and explain the South and what happens there. “Shaking the Gates of Hell” is Archibald’s attempt at a conversation about historical silence with his deceased father, with his younger self, with his home state and region. The author’s father, Robert L. Archibald, Jr., was a Methodist minister who served at churches in Birmingham and north Alabama. Read more. Family, Faith and Race Collide in Columnist John Archibald’s New Book (WBHM)

by James L. Baggett