Tag Archives: Birmingham News

Pay for the paper at the box with a credit card

New Birmingham News boxes downtown. acnatta/FlickrFolks who pick up their copies of The Birmingham News from one of the newspaper boxes in front their headquarters don’t have to necessarily have change anymore.

At least three of the boxes located at the corner of 20th Street and 4th Avenue North now accept credit cards.

It’s not necessarily a new concept; the folks at AdAge wrote about the expanding trend last summer pointing out that USA Today had devices on boxes in airports for several years. The Wall Street Journal, New York Times and Chicago Tribune are other publications that have tried them. They’ve even been tried out in Juneau, AK.

We’re still hoping for a digital newsstand someday though…

Photo: New Birmingham News boxes downtown. acnatta/Flickr

The Birmingham News hopes to Reinvent our Community

Birmingham's Railroad Skyline. acnatta/FlickrLast Sunday The Birmingham News ran a special section called Reinventing Our Community – portions of this first portion of the series were made available online.

It was described as the first of several reports about the future of the city and the type of leadership it will take to get there. The first part involved News reporters interviewing approximately 120 people (including yours truly) about their thoughts on our regional leadership situation. The next part begins today…

You’ve got until 2 p.m. to take part in a live chat over on AL.com (hosted by The News’ Eddie Lard) coinciding with a town hall meeting being live streamed from The News’ headquarters downtown. Participants include William Bell (mayor of Birmingham, AL),  Tony Petelos (Hoover, AL’s  mayor) and Kate Nielsen (president of the Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham). Hopefully the video from the event will be archived and available for viewing later today and in the coming months as the series evolves and continues.

Photo: Birmingham’s Railroad Skyline. acnatta/Flickr

UPDATE: A busy summer ahead for local media

John Archibald - acnatta/FlickrThings are getting interesting all over Birmingham, AL (particularly in the world of local media) as we enjoy a beautiful spring day.

Kyle Whitmire has shared via Facebook that John Archibald has written a column about the buyouts at The Birmingham News though it hasn’t been published as of yet.

UPDATE: Kyle has decided to post the unpublished column as a note to his Facebook profile. He’s also shared via Twitter that he will be on The Matt Murphy Show tomorrow (Tuesday) morning at 7:30 a.m.

UPDATE 2: John Archibald’s column returned to the pages of The Birmingham News on Wednesday morning. It was not the “unpublished” one that has been circulated via social networks and local bloggers, but a follow up to his April 14 column about Alabama oddity.

The News started offering buyouts in November 2008; they were extended in late 2009 and again earlier this year (February).

We’ll keep an eye on what’s going on over there for you. You may also want to check out the recent posts over on Media of Birmingham.

We’ve got a favor to ask of you ourselves; we’ll explain shortly…

Photo: acnatta/Flickr

Bham News’ owner says ‘no layoff’ policy ends in February

Earlier today Editor & Publisher reported that the parent company of Birmingham’s daily newspaper (The Birmingham News), Advance Publications, let their staffers at their numerous newspapers know that the company’s long-standing “no layoff” policy was going to be no more as of February 2010.

Local media blog Media of Birmingham is reporting that employees with at least five years at the paper were offered buyouts with the news being shared by Wade Kwon via Twitter this afternoon.

Who do you trust politically, Birmingham?

The question of trust when considering our local politicians has been one on the minds of many recently, especially in light of the recent trial and conviction of former Birmingham City Councilor and Jefferson County Commissioner John Katapodis on federal charges. Birmingham Weekly‘s Kyle Whitmire wrote an extensive piece on the issue of political corruption in Alabama for last week’s edition while The Birmingham NewsJoey Kennedy decided to ask “Who’s your favorite convicted Jefferson County commissioner?” on his al.com blog. The poll’s still open…

So we were wondering…

Which politician in metro Birmingham do you trust the most? Share your answers on Magic City Question.

Pay cuts, part-time layoffs at The News

News buildingsWe’re joining Birmingham Weekly in reporting that The Birmingham News has made an additional 7% average reduction in salaries for its full-time employees. They also announced the closure of all suburban news bureaus by September and layoffs of some part-time employees, though there are no additional furloughs expected for now.

We also learned that employees at The Anniston Star and its subsidiairies found out that they would also be experiencing a 10% reduction in salary, just days after launching its new website. 

Ike Pigott broke both stories via Twitter earlier this afternoon.

Photo: Bob Farley/f8Photo

UPDATE: The Birmingham News… it’s gone blog!

Screenshot of Birmingham News test page

Screenshot of potential “new” Birmingham News homepage.

Well, apparently not yet… though we were able to catch this screenshot of a revamped Birmingham News homepage about mid-morning – though it’s currently gone back to its original state. The redesign resembled the layout that is currently in use on al.com’s entertainment section.

We’re not sure if we just stumbled across something by accident or not, but we’re sure that our friends at al.com will let us know…

UPDATE: 1:12 p.m. – According to the folks at the paper, the page has been fixed, and it is now active as it is picture above. It was suffering problems due to the severe weather affecting the region right now.