May saw the launching of The Star’s new tabloid-size Monday paper, jumpStart. Monday is usually the slowest news day of the week. Star editors hoped to make that day more interesting with a different kind of Monday newspaper. Whether they succeeded is a matter for readers to decide.
Each Monday, jumpStart features a story profiling someone in this area, with a front-page color photo. The four cover stories so far, by Brett Buckner, Michael A. Bell, Graham Milldrum and Deirdre Long, were interesting, well-written and very well illustrated. JumpStart also includes “Off to work,” a short feature about the world of work, by Bill Edwards, and a calendar of events of the coming week.
Stories about interesting people and about the workplace have often appeared in The Star. The new idea was to schedule them on Mondays using them to anchor a more feature-oriented paper. But why change to a tabloid size? It may have been to dramatize the change. The Star used the tabloid size in the 1980s for its Saturday edition, “Weekend,” which featured entertainment content. Star editors have not said why jumpStart includes six regular-size pages folded into the tabloid package.
The cover page of the first jumpStart, May 11, was cluttered, with promotions for stories inside and a crowded ad at the bottom of the page. The comics were left out; there was no index. The third and fourth issues, May 25 and June 1, had comics, an index and attractive, uncluttered covers. Three of the issues had good full-page sports photos on the back covers.
Reporting on government
Several stories this month involved Anniston’s city government. One important story was whether state law required Anniston to release the names of the 10 candidate finalists for city manager (May 14, 15, 16, 1A). The first story said, “The council’s refusal (to release the names) appears to run counter to state law, state Supreme Court decisions and attorney general’s opinions, which hold that such information is public record, experts say.” In the three articles, by Megan Nichols, only one expert was quoted, Alabama Press Association attorney Dennis Bailey. Bailey is certainly an expert in the field; he also is an active protagonist for the news media in public-records issues.
Another Anniston government story concerned the powers of the mayor, which were expanded in a local law passed by the Alabama Legislature in 2000 (May 27, 28, 1A). The stories, by Nichols, reported a council request for clarification to the Alabama attorney general. They include an interview with former Mayor Gene Stedham, author of the 2000 amendment. Although the amendment was described, it was not quoted, nor were readers told it was available online. The May 28 story refers to “experts on government administration,” but no such expert is named or quoted.
Pink-slip predicament
On May 5, The Star reported that the Cleburne County Board of Education had voted to issue “pink slips” to a number of school employees (3A). Superintendent David Easley was quoted as saying, “This is normal, to pink slip people because of the lack of performance.” According to The Anniston Star online, Easley sent faxes to Cleburne County school principals May 6 claiming that the information in the article ” is not at all true and that no reasons are ever given for pink slips.” Michael A. Bell wrote the story.
Star Editor Bob Davis posted a response online, saying, “We stand by our reporting and the accuracy of the quotes attributed to the superintendent.” Easley’s charge and Davis’ response were not reported in the print edition of The Star.
The judges’ votes
The results of the two annual Alabama newspaper contests were announced in May. The newspapers judged were those published in 2008.
In one, conducted by the Associated Press Managing Editors, The Star competed with six other midsize daily papers. With six first-place awards, including the Sports Sweepstakes prize, and a total of 19, The Star placed second to The Decatur Daily, which won seven firsts and 22 total awards.
In the other competition, held by the Alabama Press Association, The Star and other midsize dailies were judged against the state’s large metropolitan papers. In this league, The Star won one first place award and a total of 12. Among the nine papers in this class, the best totals went to The Birmingham News, eight firsts and 22 total awards. The Huntsville Times was second, seven firsts and 15 total, followed by The Tuscaloosa News, the Mobile Press-Register and The Star.
The Birmingham News won the award for general excellence. The Florence TimesDaily was named the “most improved” paper.
