Newspaper margins are expected to continue shrinking as ad revenue declines, Rupert Murdoch said. Newspaper revenue has slid 10-30%, according to the WSJ report. With subscriptions in decline and now ad revenue, it has become a full-fledged crisis. Murdoch knows a thing or two about running newspapers and a profitable media company. So, when Rupert [...]
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Moon: the new Phillip Marshall
Josh Moon is one of Tommy Tuberville’s media shills. Doubt it? Look at his coaches rankings. 1. Mark Richt 2. Urban Meyer 3. Steve Spurrier 4. Tommy Tuberville 5. Sylvester Croom 6.Nick Saban 7. Phil Fulmer 8. Bob Petrino 9. Houston Nutt 10. Les Miles 11. Bobby Johnson 12. Rich Brooks Most of the ranking [...]
Are glory days of newspaper sportswriters over?
By Hunter Ford And I hope when I get old I don’t sit around thinking about it… but I probably will. Yeah, just sitting back trying to recapture a little of the glory of… well time slips away and leaves you with nothing mister but boring stories of… glory days. -Bruce Springsteen Are the glory [...]
Profile: Steve Flowers
Writers Note: I thought Capstone Report readers might be interested in this story about Steve Flowers, former state representative and syndicated newspaper columnist. Flowers is “THE†political columnist in Alabama. You won’t find him in the Birmingham News or Mobile Register but you will find him in every small town gazette across the state, which [...]
The future of journalism
Paul Finebaum’s radio show was like a seminar in the new media on Thursday. Finebaum spent a significant amount of time talking about blogs, newspapers and the role of the Internet in modern journalism. It was a provocative hour, which included an interview with one of the better (and busier) bloggers, Spencer Hall of EDSBS.com. [...]
Newspaper’s decline
The Paul Finebaum Radio show Wednesday was fascinating as it addressed the decline of the newspaper. On Tuesday, I had lunch with an old friend who recently left the newspaper business. He has predicted the death of newspapers to the Internet for at least the last five or six years. As we ate at Jim [...]
Finebaum taking heat over ASU interview
Fresh off an award for promoting racial understanding, Paul Finebaum is facing criticism for treating a black school differently than Alabama or Auburn. Finebaum eviscerated Alabama State University’s head football coach Reggie Barlow on Tuesday’s radio broadcast. Like he never did that to Gene Stallings, Terry Bowden, Mike Dubose, Mike Price, Neil Callaway or Mike [...]
The David Neal mess
Sometimes the Roundtable on WJOX is interesting radio. Wednesday’s one o’clock hour provided great radio as David Neal and his lawyer appeared. The appearance didn’t provide much more than what was discussed on Paul Finebaum’s show, or the Birmingham News article. What was informative, was the heartfelt nature of Neal’s appearance. He set the record [...]
Retraction
The Boston Herald repudiated its story which alleged the New England Patriots taped the walkthrough of Super Bowl XXXVI competitor Los Angeles Rams. On Feb. 2, 2008, the Boston Herald reported that a member of the New England Patriots’ video staff taped the St. Louis Rams’ walkthrough on the day before Super Bowl XXXVI. While [...]
Stewart named Sportscaster of the Year
By Hunter Ford Chris Stewart was a young child when he caught the sports bug. “I was five or six years old calling play-by-play into a tape recorder,” he recalls. Last week, the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association (NSSA) named Stewart, who is the lead play-by-play voice of University of Alabama basketball and baseball, the [...]
Marshall visits the Capstone Report
By CapstoneReport.com‘s clever readers We’ve been truly honored over the last week with many Auburn celebrities visiting our site. We were particularly honored by a visit last night from Phillip Marshall. We’ve culled the best of “his†posts for your reading pleasure. Notice how Phillip Marshall never misses a chance to pitch his book, or [...]
Marshall’s books raise ethical questions
Phillip Marshall’s bias toward Tommy Tuberville and Auburn has been discussed consistently over the last year. But one element I haven’t seen covered is Marshall’s pecuniary interest in Auburn’s success—his books. Marshall uses his al.com blog to not only shill for Tommy Tuberville, but hawk his merchandise. He ends many blog posts with this plea: [...]
Saban likely called Estes
Gentry Estes disappearing blog has reappeared with comments from the Alabama beat writer, who attempts to explain why the post disappeared. Estes explanation raises more questions than it answers. …After feeling compelled to respond to numerous comments from readers, the blog was threatening to become a time-consuming distraction to my work as Alabama beat writer [...]
The amazing disappearing blog post
Today’s Paul Finebaum radio program broached several topics of interest to Alabama fans, and all of them related to the magical disappearing blog of Gentry Estes. Estes posted this blog entry Saturday evening, which was taken off the al.com website sometime Monday. The post bemoaned the fact that the media was excluded from Alabama’s scrimmage. [...]
Media Review: Alabama’s Best Print Journalism
Alabama’s best journalism continues to be delivered by print media. Television and other outlets fail to provide the depth or breadth of coverage for sports or political issues. The Capstone Report consumes at least three or four newspapers per day—so we are ready to offer our judgement on Alabama’s best newspapers. Best Alabama Sports Coverage: [...]
Media Review: Roundtable on WMSP
Josh Moon has the intellect for television, a face for the radio, and a voice for the newspaper. In other words, he shouldn’t be part of the Alabama media. He’s a joke. A Finebaum wannabe that fails. He’d have to improve significantly to be called a hack. Of course in the modern media environment where [...]
Media Review: Colin Cowherd
Colin Cowherd is clever and entertaining, but he is more akin to a standup comic than a sports journalist—and that is the problem. ESPN today is more about laughs than real information. Last Wednesday’s show spent more time discussing men using tanning machines than real sports talk. They also spent an inordinate amount of time [...]
Sports talk host charged with fraud
Scott McKinney of Southern Sports Tonight was charged with investment fraud according to reports from WJHG and the News Hearld. Investigators allege the sports talk show host took $140,000 from six investors and used the money for personal expenses and not on the business. The investigation was sparked when investors met and compared notes. Turns [...]
Why people hate the media (part XVIII)
Why do people hate the media? Maybe the condescending nonsense spewed by reporters like this Rick Karle blog entry. Let’s take a close look: Uh, coach? Here’s my rub. Like you, I have two children- and I can tell you my two kids would never be walking around the Tuscaloosa Strip at 3:00 am. If my son [...]
Media Review: Harp on Sports
What’s the worst radio show in Alabama? Harp on Sports. And big surprise, it is in Huntsville. Why is Huntsville afflicted with pathetic newspaper reporting, and poor talk radio? The morning show hosted by Seth Harp airing from 6 a.m.-9 a.m. on WUMP 730 AM in Huntsville was a disaster Friday. The show talked at [...]
Media Review: Paul Finebaum on WJOX
I listen to the Paul Finebaum show as much as possible. Whether it is during football season or out of season, Finebaum is the most interesting and informative show on the radio. Finebaum covers sports and politics with aplomb. The Tuesday show was textbook Finebaum; it combined a sports topic of the day, with a [...]
Media Review: The Opening Drive on WJOX
Tony Kurre, Jay Barker and Al Del Greco host the Opening Drive on WJOX. The show airs 6 a.m.-10 a.m., and features sports talk with some entertainment talk. Kurre provides a balance between the two famous football players. The Friday show included talk of the upcoming Daytona Race with a racing legend, basketball talk, and [...]
Media Review: Roundtable on WJOX
I decided to take at least one hour of my life and devote it to listening to the major sport radio programs around the state (or at least the ones available online or over-the-air in the Birmingham-Tuscaloosa-Anniston I-20 corridor.) I had planned on listening to the Opening Drive this morning, but a few commitments kept [...]
Texas A&M and Johnny Football caving under the pressure? The answer is in your Sunday Cup of Coffee
Texas A&M’s mighty might QB is showing signs of buckling under pressure. The little hero that could, who tiptoed into [...]