Media Frenzy

By Rob Holbert Managing Editor

Just a bit over a year after arriving here, WPMI and WJTC vice president and general manager Donita Todd has been promoted to the same position with WOAI in San Antonio. Todd’s new station is Clear Channel’s flagship station and near their corporate headquarters.

“It’s exciting,” Todd said. “I’m very much looking forward it, but leaving is bittersweet. I’ve been here a year and really bonded with the staff.”

Todd came to Mobile last July from Ft. Myers, Fla. She said her replacement has yet to be determined.

New Press-Register “fauxternative”

Heads are swimming in the editorial department at the Mobile Press-Register after a display ad ran in the Newhouse-owned paper announcing the need for employees for three new publications, including one that looks suspiciously like an “alternative” weekly newspaper. But few inside the P-R know much about it – only that the higher ups are referring to them as “niche” publications.

The Press-Register ad says it will launch a “young-adult oriented arts, entertainment and news weekly, a parent and family publication, and a monthly magazine tracking the society events of the community” sometime this fall.” The Press-Register has been running rather veiled ads for several weeks, but the Aug. 10 ad was the first to actually spell out what will be on the table.

We had heard about the potential for Newhouse putting out a weekly tabloid several weeks ago when someone was blabbing about it at a nightclub. However, other knowledgeable people had not heard of that possibility. That changed with the latest ad.

Some are already questioning how a daily newspaper that is ostensibly covering the community to the best of its ability would have anything left to put in these new publications.

Insiders at the P-R are also scratching their heads a bit about these publications because they are apparently being run through the advertising department – an area of the paper I’m sure routinely produces award-winning journalism. P-R employees believe the new fake alternative – or fauxternative – will be a stand-alone publication that will attempt to look independent, much like the Pelican in Gulf Shores, which is owned by the Pensacola News-Journal.

In any event, it appears the paper’s journalists have little or nothing to do with the fauxternative.

Another person in the local publishing scene asked rhetorically “Why don’t they just try making their newspaper better first?” Good question.

The chain-owned fake alternatives are typically just advertising vehicles that allow the big chains to drop their astronomical advertising rates in a “separate” publication in order to try to undercut the competition.

In most cities, these attempts are usually as unimaginative as any other chain-driven publication.

Press Club Awards

Back to good journalism. The Mobile Press Club held its 27th annual awards luncheon Aug. 10 at the Z Technology Center at Hank Aaron Stadium, and your favorite bi-weekly independent newspaper racked up five awards.

Lagniappe Associate editor Kevin Lee picked up two awards for his work in 2005. His column on post-Katrina cultural devastation in New Orleans was judged the Best Commentary Column for Print Media, which includes all area newspapers. (Yes, even the Press-Register!) Lee has won this award two years in a row. He also won an award for Best In-Depth Reporting for a Non-Daily newspaper for his story on the struggles of shrimpers in Bayou La Batre.

Tamara Ducote was judged Best General Columnist for Print Media for her column on a stay in a mental hospital. Photographers Daniel Anderson and David Trimmier both won awards for Non-Daily Photography. Anderson won for his candid photo from Fetishfest last year, and Trimmier for his shot of a nude PETA protester in Bienville Square.

WKRG Sports anchor/news anchor Randy Patrick was also awarded the John Harris Lifetime Achievement Award for his more-than-20 years of service to the CBS affiliate, an award well deserved, in my opinion.

Other winners were:

Television:

News Anchor: Anissa Centers WALA TV; Feature Reporting: Jere Hough WKRG; TV Photography: Gary Arnold WKRG TV; Sports Anchor: Rob Lehocky WALA TV; Sports Reporter: Rob Lehocky WALA TV; General Reporter: Mike Rush WPMI TV, Jennifer Mayerle WKRG TV; Weather Anchor: John Edd Thompson WALA TV; Community Service: Bruce M. Mildwurf NBC 15; In-depth Reporter: Tiffany Craig WKRG TV, Chris Newbold.

Radio:

Radio Sports: Tim Hagerty WABB AM; Feature Reporter: Eric Lowe AL Public Radio; In-depth Reporter: Chris Newbold AL Public Radio; General Reporter: Chris Newbold AL Public Radio

Print:

Daily Photographer, General Photographs: G.M. Andrews, Mobile Press Register; Sports Photography: John David Mercer, Mobile Press Register; Photography for Magazines: Terry Hartley, Mobile Bay Monthly; Feature Reporting: Rena Havner, Mobile Press Register; General Reporting: Staff reporters, Mobile Press Register; Sports Reporting for Newspaper: Mike Herndon, Mobile Press Register; Best Commentary Column for Magazines: Frank Daugherty, Mobile Bay Monthly; General Reporting/Articles for Magazines: Susan Rak-Blanchard, Chamber publication; General Column for Magazine: Tom McGeehee, Mobile Bay Monthly; Sports Reporting for Non-Daily Newspapers: Daniel Boyette, The Vanguard; Community Service for Non-Daily: Curt Chapman, Fairhope Courier, sex-offender laws; Feature Reporting for Non-Daily: Melanie Thornton, The Vanguard; General Reporting, Non-Daily: Alan Samry, Fairhope Courier; Collegiate Journalism: The Vanguard; In-Depth Reporting for Newspapers: Mobile Press Register staff.

The broadcast categories were judged by the Atlanta Press Club, and the print categories were judged by Dr. Bill Keller and the Alabama School of Journalism.

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

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