Media Frenzy

By Rob Holbert Managing Editor

Lance Crawford joins WPMI; APA awards announced

Crawford returns

Lance Crawford, who was sports director for WALA from 1990 – 2000, is headed back to the Port City in the same capacity for WPMI TV-15.

According to a press release from the NBC affiliate, Crawford spent the last eight years covering professional sports in Philadelphia. He replaces Kevin McDermond, who recently took a position as the public relations director with the Senior Bowl.

Crawford, his wife and two children are moving back to Mobile and he will begin on-air work sometime in early August, according to a WPMI press release.

APA Awards

The annual Alabama Press Association’s “Better Newspaper Contest” awards were announced recently, and some papers from our area did fairly well. The Press-Register took home 19 awards in Division A, which includes the state’s largest dailies. The Citronell Call gathered 18 awards, in Division D, including first place for general excellence. (The APA doesn’t have a division for bi-weeklies like Lagniappe, so we didn’t get a chance to throw our hats in the ring.)

A list of the awards to area papers follows. Congratulations to the winners.

Press-Register’s Awards were as follows:

3rd Place General Excellence; 2nd Place Freedom of Information Award for encouraging openness in selection of new school board members Rena Haver, Jane Nicholes and J.D.Crowe; 1st Place Most Improved; 2nd Place Best Presswork; 1st Place Best Lifestyle/Family Pages; 3rd Place Best Sports Page; 2nd Place Best Layout and Design; 1st Place Best Economic Coverage; 1st Place Best Local News Coverage; 3rd Place In-Depth News Coverage for “In the Danger Zone” by Steve Myers; 1st Place Best Feature Story for “The Eddie Smith story: Trophies & Trouble” by Eddie Curran; 2nd Place Best Sports Single Event Story for “Lap of Luxury” by Mark Inabinett; 1st Place Best Sports Feature Story for “NFL Draft 2007: Mobile’s Jamarcus Russell” by Neal McCready; 3rd Place Best News Photo for “September 11 Memorials” by Mike Kittrell; 1st Place Best Spot News Photo for ”’Chaos, Total Chaos’” by Mike Kittrell; 2nd Place Best Spot News Photo for “Double-slaying suspect caught” by G.M. Andrews; 1st Place Best Sports Photo for ”’A New Beginning’” by G.M. Andrews; 2nd Place Best Sports Photo for “Saints’ bats come alive in win over Gulf Shores” by Bill Starling; 3rd Place Best Headline for “Deep Six-d” by staff.

Call News awards were:

1st Place General Excellence ; 1st Place Freedom of Information Award for coverage of back room city council pre-meetings by Chris Henley; 2nd Place FOI Award for a MOWA Choctaw tribal chief’s lay off coverage by Chris Henley; 2nd Place Best Presswork; 1st Place Best Sports Page; 3rd Place Best Economic Coverage; 1st Place Best Local News Coverage; 3rd Place Best Use of Photographs/ Editorial Content; 1st Place Best Spot News Story for “Assailant and killer on the loose” by Willie Gray; 1st Place Best Business Story or Column for “Annexation pros, cons explored” by Chris Henley; 1st Place Best News Feature Story for “Cedar Creek Community: Family waits seven weeks for power” by Joy McGough; 2nd Place Best Editorial Column or Commentary for “The reason behind that photo” by Joy McGough; 2nd and 3rd Place for Best News Photo “A promise to come home” by Chris Henley and ”’All gave some, some gave all’” by Chris Henley; 1st Place Best Sports Photo for “Gators knock off MGM” by Chris Henley; 3rd Place Best Sports Photo for “Citronelle on top in Cat fight” by Bruce Hansen; 1st Place Best Headline “Police claim Crocker’s story was a crock” by Chris Henley; 3rd Place Best Special Section for “Gridiron 2007” by staff;

Fairhope Courier:

1st Place Best Feature Story for “Couple discover joy of being the Clauses” by Mike Odom.

Red Square lands Stewart

The Red Square Agency here in town announced recently it has become the agency of record for Stewart Enterprises, Inc., the second largest provider of funeral services in the world.

Red Square was one of 11 agencies from across the country to undergo a formal review for the account. Stewart is a publicly traded company based in Jefferson, La., and it operates 221 funeral homes and139 cemeteries in 62 markets in the U.S. and Puerto Rico.

According to Red Square, the addition of Stewart will bring the company’s annual billings to $35 million. Congratulations to the former Sullivan-St. Clair for this big contract.

Kudos

It’s not often local reporters get to interview the likes of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, and it’s even rarer still that a local reporter would put tough questions to such a powerful politician if he or she did get that interview. But WPMI reporter Jenna Susko recently did just that when Pelosi joined Mississippi Congressman Gene Taylor on the coast last week to crow about what the government has done to rebuild after Hurricane Katrina.

WPMI has been working a rather interesting story detailing how some folks have been put up in beachfront hotels for three years and receiving three catered meals a day, all on the government’s tab. During her interview with Taylor and Pelosi, Susko asked about those still living off the government’s largess, and the politicians got nasty in a hurry.

Taylor’s face drew tight and he barked at Susko, while Pelosi talked over her questions, uttering the super-scripted-sounding phrase, “the plural of antecdote isn’t data.”

The story and video can still be found on WPMI’s Web site. Kudos to Susko for not being afraid to ask one of the country’s most powerful politicians some tough questions.

Troy King continued

The rampant rumors that have flooded the Internet about Attorney General Troy King continue to slowly make their way into the mainstream media. On July 18, Paul Finebaum called King’s office while broadcasting on his statewide radio program to try to get to the bottom of the claims being made that King was caught in a compromising position with a male staffer.

King refused to talk with Finebaum and refused comment. Now it seems WVTM from Anniston caught up with King at an event and asked him about the rumors. King refused comment.

I hear more is coming on the subject as other media outlets work the story.

Rob Holbert is Lagniappe managing editor. Contact him at rholbert@lagniappemobile.com.

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