Alternative Media Showcase: Black and White
The next stop on our tour of the alternative media world lands us in Birmingham, Alabama. This city is best known for its role in the civil rights movement during the 1950s and 1960s though it has quieted in recent years to become a typical Southern city. Birmingham is home to a decidedly atypical newspaper called Black and White that takes the colorful graphics of a literary magazine and adds the depth of quality investigative reporting needed in alternative newspapers.
Black and White has a circulation of 30,000 to venues throughout metro Birmingham. This paper has been articles every other week since its founding in 1992. The highlight of Black and White is its award-winning covers that use multiple colors to leap out from newspaper stands and boxes throughout Birmingham. The picture above is from the latest edition of Black and White and shows the initial draw to the newspaper by skeptical media consumers.
The main attraction for readers of Black and White is “Publisher’s Notebook,? a regular feature written by publisher Charles Geiss. Geiss has covered a wide range of topics in his column from the city’s financial boon from hosting NCAA Tournament games to the proper way for city government to spend resident tax dollars. The Features section of Black and White has covered a diverse range of topics like the unusual musical inspiration of the Alabama Symphony Orchestra’s conductor and a look at Birmingham’s statistical comparison to other major cities.
Black and White is filled with some comic relief from the heavy topics covered in earlier pages. “Department of Mirth? is a place for interesting essays and stories while “Strange Tales? covers unusual news pieces throughout the country. This alternative publication is one of the best in the country because it shows a concern with the holistic nature of media. Black and White shows that quality reporting can be put into a beautiful and artistic package. The people at USA Today should read this publication before they print another ridiculous pie chart.
April 7th, 2008 at 5:51 am
[...] of the most successful alternative newspapers in the United States is The Stranger. I have heard about this Seattle institution since I first [...]