Local media outlets

[convulso]

when foreign dignitaries visit the united states, they typically visit with the president or secretary of state and get the lead-off on the nightly news.

when vaclav klaus visits the united states, he speaks to the rotary club in bham and gets a write-up in the birmingham news:

http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/inde....xml&coll=2

to be fair, he is going to washington. it just seemed a little funny (if you read the article) that the local paper really didn't seem to have a handle on how to cover this one - it gets one page on al.com (a typical story gets from two to four), and it's clear that nobody at the news had any idea how to approach a pretty significant story by playing a distinct local angle. well, he is friends with bill cabaniss (what? no interview? no rundown of cabaniss' history as an ambassador during the formative days of the EU? come on!)

as we speak, the tragic but timely death of a 50 year-old hippopotamus at the birmingham zoo is the teaser on the al.com main page. same day as the klaus visit. i love animals, but that hippo is no hank williams - why does she get to pre-empt a president here in the great state?

i would've stuck this in the birmingham subforum, but klaus is hitting up montgomery today as well. don't know yet if the advertiser will relegate him to the B section.

[kayman]

The reason why it didn't more coverage probably because The News assumed that people wouldn't care. It seems to me more and more the media around here concern themselves with the most mondane things like Alabama football rather than groundbreaking things such as this.

[kayman]

I have a general feeling that most of our TV stations with news departments seems to do Birmingham more of a disservice and would much prefer to show "The City" in a negative light rather than the postive news. It seems the only times when positive news does come it is usually about something involving retail more than anything. Meanwhile when it comes to the truly positive things about the city such as, how much safer the City Center is than most parts of the region (including Tuscaloosa, Gadsden, and Anniston), is seems to either intentionally leaves it out or is like a soundbite at the end of the newscast. IMO, ABC 33/40 is the only one that seems to try to avoid this trend because at times I have learned of some positive news that hasn't even been reported in The News.

On the other hand, while they are far from perfect, The Birmingham News, seems to attempt to give the full picture (good and bad) of the region. Also The Tuscaloosa News, The Gadsden Times, and The Anniston Star also does a fair jobs covering their areas.

Why is it do you guys believe is the our television stations have a vendetta against the progress of Birmingham and is "pro-sprawl"? OR Is it something else?

[kayman]

The Birmingham News has formally endorsed the McCain-Palin ticket which is not really a surprise considering they blindly endorsed the Bush-Cheney ticket in 2000 and 2004.

[woob]

The Birmingham News has formally endorsed the McCain-Palin ticket which is not really a surprise considering they blindly endorsed the Bush-Cheney ticket in 2000 and 2004.

[woob]

The Birmingham News has formally endorsed the McCain-Palin ticket which is not really a surprise considering they blindly endorsed the Bush-Cheney ticket in 2000 and 2004.