University of Alabama beat writer: The Birmingham News

In Alabama, the beat in question is as big as it gets. And The Birmingham News (curses ...) is the dominant paper in this state.

Hmmm ... biggest beat in state at dominant paper in state ... yeap, that's A-level to me.

rb

 

The News is dominant? Um, OK, whatever you say.

 

Dominant as in selling papers in all four corners of the state and as in reaching out in sports to cover the entire state. Now, dominant as in "on the UA athletics beat"? No. But I would guess they think they can get there with young Mr. Rapaport -- who now has my congratulations.

rb

 

It's a major fibbing to say Ron Ingram is a top-shelf high school writer. He writes the most generic stuff I've ever read. I've seen more interesting lead graphs from correspondents. Ron has no flair. He's gets the job done because he has so many contacts and not because of great writing. He's not the preps writer, Mike Easterling or Mike Herndon or when Julio was the preps guy at Decatur. Ron finishes a distant fourth in that group as a writer. Great contacts, no doubt about it, but not a top-shelf writer.

 

Maybe. It won't take much to improve it, considering the News (and most other Alabama news outlets, for that matter) have been blistered on that beat on almost every major breaking story involving the Tide or Auburn over the last 15-20 years. Most major stories have been broken by out-of-state media.

 

I can't believe Ron Ingram gets blasted for being too generic. The guy is a pro's pro, a good guy, gives a shit about his job and helps anyone who needs help. And he gets trashed.

Ronalong is my choice for Alabama Sweepstakes this year -- great ledes EVERY SINGLE TIME. Amazing work.
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News is the dominant paper in that state? Can you elaborate on that? So the News sells more papers in Huntsville than the Huntsville Times, more papers in Montgomery than the Advertiser, more papers in Mobile than the Press-Register? I guess it's better on the Alabama beat than, say, what Cecil puts out on a daily basis?

That would be dominant.

 

News is the dominant paper in that state? Can you elaborate on that? So the News sells more papers in Huntsville than the Huntsville Times, more papers in Montgomery than the Advertiser, more papers in Mobile than the Press-Register? I guess it's better on the Alabama beat than, say, what Cecil puts out on a daily basis?

That would be dominant.
Sure. The Birmingham News SELLS papers in Huntsville, sells papers in Montgomery, sells papers in Mobile. It covers (or, perhaps more accurately, attempts to cover) the entire state. That, to me, is dominance. Of course, Huntsville has its market sewn up. As does Mobile, Montgomery, Tuscaloosa, etc.

As for the quality of coverage on Alabama athletics, Birmingham's goal (I assume, based on observing what they do) is to provide as much quality and quantity as Tuscaloosa. And they succeed there often.

One more point, by way of anecdote ... I read books on UA football history. Time and time again, I see clips from the Birmingham News. I pick up the SI from when Mike Price got fired, and the image they used was a headline clipped from the Birmingham News. Are they the only ones who cover UA? Of course not. But them and Tuscaloosa do it on a level surpassing the rest of the state.

rb

 

Rockbottom is not a writer at all. He's Tom Arenberg's agent. I guess he's getting ready to see if he can get Tom a raise.

 

A few points:
1. Ruben is a great guy, and he has served as pastor of a Birmingham church as in the past. I assume he still does that, which would pretty much preclude him from covering Alabama. And, yes, he's one of the classiest people on the planet.
2. Birmingham does have great reach throughout the state, but I doubt most people would call it dominant. I think what RB is saying is that even when people in Huntsville, Mobile, Tuscaloosa, Gadsden or Montgomery read the hometown paper, they often also read The News. That shows the paper's reach.
3. Ron Ingram does a great job, and he's incredibly well respected throughout the state. His knowledge is unmatched.
4. Rappoport should do very well. He did a great job for the C-L, and he didn't go insane while living in StarkVegas. The Bama beat includes a laundry list of talented writers and reporters, and he'll just be another on that list.
5. Tyrone Prothro shouldn't have been playing when he broke his leg!

 

Self-outing in progress?

 

Rubin (correct spelling, although plenty of people get it wrong) is a wonderful man and a talented journalist - and I think he actually covered Alabama and Auburn back in the day for the Post-Herald. I just don't think he'd want the 'Bama beat.... it's a young-pup kind of job. Rubin is too much of a family man for that.
The Birmingham News is an excellent paper. Its dominance is in its reach - it tries to be everything to everyone in Alabama, and does a decent job of it. Sometimes, though, it tries too hard to be the "paper of record" and not hard enough on producing unique journalism. Makes the paper bland. The hire of Jon Solomon (and Ian, who will do an excellent job on the 'Bama beat) will go a long ways toward changing that, if their stuff isn't chopped/sanitized by the desk, as I've heard some News writers accuse their desk of doing.
And the B-ham News may be an "A-level" paper compared to the late Post-Herald, but that "B-level paper" took the News to task on occasion. Not always, but it had its share of wins, which is unconscionable considering how much bigger (and better marketed) the News was, which was a big reason why it finally choked out the Post-Herald.
Ron Ingram isn't flashy, but he gets the job done. He's a quantity over flashiness kind of guy, which is OK for the News.

 

I have always thought the News to be one of the great underachieving papers in the country. If it were a bit more imaginative, it could easily be one of the top 3-4 in the 100-250K class.