newspaper
A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background.
Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports a ...
and news website located in
Montgomery, Alabama
Montgomery is the capital city of the U.S. state of Alabama and the county seat of Montgomery County. Named for the Irish soldier Richard Montgomery, it stands beside the Alabama River, on the coastal Plain of the Gulf of Mexico. In the 202 ...
. It was founded in 1829.
History
The newspaper began publication in 1829 as ''The Planter's Gazette.'' Its first editor was Moseley Baker. It became the ''Montgomery Advertiser'' in 1833. In 1903, Richard F. Hudson Sr., a young Alabama newspaperman, joined the staff of the ''Advertiser'' and rose through the ranks of the newspaper. Hudson was central to improving the financial situation of the newspaper, and by 1924 he owned 10% of its stock. Hudson purchased the remaining shares of the company in 1935, and five years later he bought the '' Alabama Journal'', a competitor founded in Montgomery in 1889. Ownership of the ''Advertiser'' subsequently passed from Hudson's heirs to Carmage Walls (1963), through Multimedia Corp. (1968) to
Gannett
Gannett Co., Inc. () is an American mass media holding company headquartered in McLean, Virginia, in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.Grover C. Hall, Jr. (1915–1971) worked at the paper from age 20 and served 15 years as editor after
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. He allied with the politician
George C. Wallace
George Corley Wallace Jr. (August 25, 1919 – September 13, 1998) was an American politician who served as the 45th governor of Alabama for four terms. A member of the Democratic Party, he is best remembered for his staunch segregationist and ...
in 1958. In 1975, the newspaper investigated the shooting of Bernard Whitehurt by police and wrote news stories that questioned the original police reports./sup> To counter claims that newspaper was fabricating stories, publisher
Harold E. Martin
Harold Eugene Martin (October 4, 1923 – July 4, 2007) was a Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper editor and publisher who was also a director of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. During his career, Martin lived in the U.S. states of Alabama ...
took and passed a polygraph./sup>
''The Alabama Journal'' continued as a local afternoon paper until April 16, 1993, when it published its last issue before merging with the morning ''Advertiser''. The ''Advertiser'' is the largest of the 22 daily newspapers published in Alabama.
Civil rights and race relations
While the ''Advertiser'' opposed
secession
Secession is the withdrawal of a group from a larger entity, especially a political entity, but also from any organization, union or military alliance. Some of the most famous and significant secessions have been: the former Soviet republics le ...
in 1861, after the
Civil War
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
it aligned itself with the cause of
white supremacy
White supremacy or white supremacism is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races and thus should dominate them. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White su ...
.
According to a 2018 review by the ''Advertiser'' itself, from 1883 to the early 1900s the paper covered the region's frequent
lynching
Lynching is an extrajudicial killing by a group. It is most often used to characterize informal public executions by a mob in order to punish an alleged transgressor, punish a convicted transgressor, or intimidate people. It can also be an ex ...
s ambivalently. While it nominally condemned the mob murders of black people, its coverage assumed that the victims were guilty of crimes, such as a 1919 editorial that held that "as long as there are attempts at rape by black men, red men or yellow men on white women there will be lynchings". Consequently, the paper's proposals on how to address lynchings focused on how the accused could more efficiently be legally executed instead. It also tended to be more concerned about how lynchings might be treated by Northern papers than about the crimes themselves. In an editorial published on the occasion of the 2018 opening of the
National Memorial for Peace and Justice
The National Memorial for Peace and Justice, informally known as the National Lynching Memorial, is a national memorial to commemorate the black victims of lynching in the United States. It is intended to focus on and acknowledge past racial ter ...
, the editorial board recognized the paper's "own shameful place in the history of these dastardly, murderous deeds", acknowledging that the paper's "careless" coverage of lynchings was "wrong".
The newspaper won the first of its three
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...
awards under the direction of
Grover C. Hall
Grover Cleveland Hall, Sr. (January 11, 1888 – 1941) was an American newspaper editor. At the ''Montgomery Advertiser'' in Montgomery, Alabama, he garnered national attention and won a Pulitzer Prize during the 1920s for his editorials that crit ...
(1888–1941), who came to the ''Advertiser'' in 1910 and served as editor from 1926 until his death. The ''Advertiser'' waged war on the
Ku Klux Klan
The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and ...
during the 1920s, and became nationally prominent for its coverage and editorial stance. Hall later argued for release of the black Scottsboro Boys. Nonetheless, by the 1950s, the paper's coverage of the
civil rights movement
The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional Racial segregation in the United States, racial segregation, Racial discrimination ...
was "indifferent and antagonistic", often criticizing civil rights activists and their goals.
In 2004, Wanda Lloyd became the ''Advertiser''s first black executive editor.
Awards
The newspaper has earned numerous state, regional and national awards, including three
Pulitzer Prizes
The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made hi ...
:
* 1928:
Grover C. Hall
Grover Cleveland Hall, Sr. (January 11, 1888 – 1941) was an American newspaper editor. At the ''Montgomery Advertiser'' in Montgomery, Alabama, he garnered national attention and won a Pulitzer Prize during the 1920s for his editorials that crit ...
, Editorial Writing, for "his editorials against gangsterism, floggings and racial and religious intolerance.""Editorial Writing" The Pulitzer Prizes. Retrieved November 7, 2013.
* 1970:
Harold E. Martin
Harold Eugene Martin (October 4, 1923 – July 4, 2007) was a Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper editor and publisher who was also a director of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. During his career, Martin lived in the U.S. states of Alabama ...
,
Investigative Reporting
Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, such as serious crimes, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend months or years rese ...
, for "his expose of a commercial scheme for using Alabama prisoners for
drug
A drug is any chemical substance that causes a change in an organism's physiology or psychology when consumed. Drugs are typically distinguished from food and substances that provide nutritional support. Consumption of drugs can be via insuffla ...
experimentation and obtaining
blood plasma
Blood plasma is a light amber-colored liquid component of blood in which blood cells are absent, but contains proteins and other constituents of whole blood in suspension. It makes up about 55% of the body's total blood volume. It is the intra ...
from them."
* 1988: Staff of ''The Alabama Journal'', General News Reporting, for "its compelling investigation of the state's unusually high infant-mortality rate, which prompted legislation to combat the problem."
In 1995, the ''Montgomery Advertiser'' was recognized by the Pulitzer Prize for work that probed management self-interest, questionable practices, and employee racial discrimination allegations in the
SPLC
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit legal advocacy organization specializing in civil rights and public interest litigation. Based in Montgomery, Alabama, it is known for its legal cases against white sup ...
.
See also
*
List of newspapers in Alabama
This is a list of newspapers in Alabama, United States. The first title was produced in 1811, and "by 1850, there were 82 newspapers in Alabama, of which nine were dailies."
Daily and nondaily newspapers (currently published)
The following are dai ...