Alabama's largest newspaper embraced Rove and the repukes years ago. Now they are in trouble

[Elwood P Dowd]

and think some new marketing campaign will save them. The legalschnauzer weighs in.........

Edit to add: Scroll down to the second blog post for the article.


http://legalschnauzer.blogspot.com/

<snip>

The News long has been a right-wing outfit on the editorial pages. But over the past eight to 10 years, its news pages have come to read like a house organ for the Republican Party. We've learned that conservatives tend to think non-conservatives are stupid, that we don't notice even the obvious. But here is a clue for the higher ups at the News: Your would-be readers who don't share your ideology are well aware that you've become a partisan tool.

It would be interesting to know how many blacks in Alabama subscribe to The Birmingham News. I bet the percentage is minuscule. It would be interesting to know how many moderate to progressive whites subscribe to The Birmingham News. I bet that percentage is only slightly higher than minuscule.

The News clearly is written for the white, affluent, Over-the-Mountain crowd in Birmingham--and a similar crowd in Montgomery. But that represents only a fraction of Alabama's population. Many conservatives, we suspect, aren't interested in daily news and analysis anyway. Their minds already are set in concrete, and facts mean nothing to them, so they are a limited audience for a news organization.

Meanwhile, The Birmingham News largely ignores potential readers who are interested in what only a newspaper can provide--real, bold, in-depth journalism. Consider some of the numerous stories the News has largely ignored, probably because they would upset their conservative base. We outlined them in a previous post:

* The abusive practices of federal prosecutors in Birmingham (Alice Martin) and Montgomery (Leura Canary);

* The apparent railroad job and wrongful conviction of former Governor Don Siegelman;

* The connections between the Siegelman case and a similar case in neighboring Mississippi involving attorney Paul Minor;

* The dirty-money trail that helped funnel $13 million from Jack Abramoff to Governor Bob Riley's campaign;

* The stain Mississippi gambling interests have placed on the Republican party in Alabama and throughout the Deep South;

* Efforts by GOP presidential nominee John McCain to hide the Abramoff-Riley connection;

* The deleterious effect Karl Rove has had on Alabama government, particularly in our state courts, which he helped shape in the 1990s.

* The grotesque corruption in Shelby County, which is just south of Birmingham and represents our state's area of most rapid growth. Shelby County should be an area of enlightenment, but it is run like a banana republic--or worse.

[BeFree]

1. So

Are Alabamans ever going to have a revolution?
Or are they gonna just keep rolling over and taking it?

IOW, are they going to walk like an Egyptian or wallow like a porcine?

Alabamans act like a tough, proud people. Are they? Or is it just superficial?

[Sanity Claws]

2. Is another newspaper getting their former readers?

Or are people not reading newspapers anymore?
If it's the former, then everyday people are rebelling against the slant of the paper. If it's the latter, it may just be an example of the death of print media.

[QC]

3. I miss the Post-Herald. Somewhat more reasonable, and Finebaum was fun. n/t