How powerful can independent online journalism be in the postmodern environment? Consider the story of massive accounting fraud, reportedly about $27-billion worth, at Southern Company -- of which Alabama Power is an affiliate. Longtime attorney and businessman Donald Watkins at DonaldWatkins.com and CDLU CEO K.B. Forbes at banbalch.com have been leading voices in reporting on the Southern Company scandal, with assistance from yours truly here at Legal Schnauzer.
Would the story even exist without those three Web sites? The answer is "almost certainly not." And that is staggering, given that it might be one of the most important stories in Alabama history. After all, Alabama Power is one of the state's most prominent, and most pervasive, corporate entities -- and its former CEO, Mark Crosswhite, was known as "the most powerful man" in the state. But Alabama's mainstream media (al.com outlets, etc.) has barely touched the story.
Al.com wrote a handful of stories about the surveillance of Southern Company CEO Tom Fanning by Matrix LLC, along with pieces on the dueling lawsuits involving Matrix founder/owner Joe Perkins and former CEO Jeff Pitts, but that's about it.
Forbes (see here) and Watkins (see here) have written extensively about the forces that limit the ability of mainstream reporters to cover Alabama Power. That has left the three Web sites noted above to step into the breach.
Watkins examines "The Power of Independent Journalism" in a new piece at his Web site, writing:
I know social media platforms were conceived as tools for social networking. To a large extent, they still are.
Over the past ten years, however, I have discovered that these digital platforms have another, perhaps even more important, use. They are empowerment tools for independent journalists.
Digital-media platforms have become the ultimate tools for journalist like me to write, publish, and distribute articles about serious public policy issues that impact our pocketbooks and quality of life.
When I started writing and publishing my articles, I never thought my average daily readership across all of my digital platforms would reach 60,000 viewers. According to my Google analytics dashboard, we crossed this threshold today.
Those numbers suggest Watkins' hard-hitting reports on the Southern Company scandal are reaching a lot of eyeballs -- and that the story in general -- as covered also at banbalch.com and Legal Schnauzer -- generates significant interest. The straightforward nature of digital media is a major plus, writes Watkins:
I do not sell ads or solicit subscription fees/donations for readers to enjoy my copyrighted media content. Foregoing this hustle for dollars has freed me up to investigate corruption within Wall Street corporations and government (from the White House to city halls across America), without fear or favor.
Prior to the era of digital media, independent journalists like me never had the means to distribute our public-policy messages to the world at-large.
From a leadership standpoint, our politicians are too weak, compromised, and afraid to effectively present and debate issues that improve our pocketbooks and quality of life. Politicians usually pander to diehard groupies and mostly react to public-opinion polls.
As my recent series of investigative articles on the Atlanta-based Southern Company has revealed, corporate thugs think they are too big to obey the law. Furthermore, they are accustomed to buying their way out of scandals and law-enforcement problems.
As many traditional news-gathering operations struggle to survive, Watkins suggests they have only themselves to blame for becoming too compromised to tackle certain big stories:
Mainstream media organizations are too “whored out” to report in-depth, unbiased news. They rarely engage in serious investigative journalism anymore. Even when they do, it is too easy for powerful people to shut them down on sensitive stories.
Online independent journalists are today’s media voices for those who want to be heard on an unfiltered, unedited basis. Our investigative journalism is fair, hard hitting, comprehensive, and often "breaking news.”
It does not matter if the mainstream media organizations pick up our published stories, or not. These organizations are dying a slow, painful death. Our media voice is growing, while theirs is dying.
The fundamental nature of publishing in the digital age comes with a number of advantages, Watkins states:
It has been a long time coming, but our independent voices are finally being heard by the masses, thanks to digital media.
The emergence of online media as a global force has changed the way news is covered and is making it possible for independent journalists to hold corporate thugs and public officials accountable for their irresponsible conduct and crime sprees. We can publish and share the stories that impact us the most and do so in our own words.
There are no page limits for our online media articles. There is no need for us to plead with insensitive reporters or biased editors to tell these stories correctly. No one can engage in “capture and kill” techniques to quash the stories we publish. The Southern Company will attest to this fact.
There are no geographic limits with respect to the distribution or circulation of our articles and stories. There is no need to seek sponsors or advertisers to cover the costs of writing, publishing, and distributing our stories because everything is online and free.
Finally, there is no longer a need for us to depend upon mainstream media organizations to tackle tough subjects. We can do this online ourselves.
We finally have a voice, and it is a powerful one at that. We can write, publish, and distribute in-depth articles about a plethora of pocketbook and "quality of life" issues that the mainstream media would never present in a fair and unbiased way. And we get to do all of this for free. It doesn’t get any better than this.
Today, nobody can silence our voices. Plenty of organizations and people have tried, but none has been succeeded.
We finally have our version of the “free press.” We are using it wisely, often, and responsibly.
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From K.B. Forbes story on Alabama Power's control of the Birmingham press:
On August 19, 2020, the Foundation for Progress in Journalism changed its name to the Bronze Valley Foundation. The registered agent’s address is 600 18th Street North, Birmingham, Alabama, the same address for Alabama Power Company.
The Bronze Valley Foundation is associated directly with the Bronze Valley Corp. which was formed in Alabama as a 501(c)(4) non-profit corporation in 2015. Its address is the same as Alabama Power Company’s. The registered agent is J. Houston Smith, III Alabama Power Vice President of Government Affairs and former Balch & Bingham partner. . . .
The current board of directors listed on Bronze Valley Corp. include Jeff Peoples, the new Chairman and CEO of Alabama Power, and Houston Smith.
Bronze Valley Corp. acknowledges in its Impact Report for 2018 to 2020 that it receives principal financial support from Alabama Power Company, the Alabama Power Foundation, Regions Bank, and the U.S. Economic Development Administration. . . .
After the change in ownership at the Birmingham Times in 2016, the newspaper hired a seasoned team of executives and reporters, improved its design, enhanced its online presence, and published a steady stream of “Happy News” for its targeted readership.
“Happy News” features positive stories about community events and uplifting profiles of non-controversial people.
“Happy News” does not include hard-hitting, investigative reporting that exposes known polluters in Alabama; spotlights public corruption within local, state or federal government; or shows the need for transparency and accountability in government operations and campaign financing laws. . . .
Finally, “Happy News” does not include any kind of negative media coverage of Alabama Power, Southern Company, the North Birmingham Bribery Scandal, or Alabama Power’s networking business partners and political allies. . . .
One of the board members of the Bronze Valley Foundation is Bob Blalock, a public relations spin doctor at Alabama Power Company. Prior to joining Alabama Power, Blalock was a reporter and editorial page editor at The Birmingham News. He is a specialist in molding public opinion on controversial issues.
Beginning on September 4, 2022, the Birmingham Times Media Group and AL.com started collaborating on a series of articles for publication in the Birmingham Times that focus on the sky-high homicide rates in the city. The articles soft peddled the severity of the violent crime in the city and portrayed [Mayor Randall] Woodfin in the best light possible.
Here is a Donald Watkins take on al.com's capitulation to Alabama Power . . .
In 2018, a former federal prosecutor confirmed to me that the U.S. Attorney’s office in Birmingham routinely used AL.com, John Archibald, and Kyle Whitmire in a modern-day COINTELPRO role to smear the targets of their criminal investigations and prosecutions. Archibald and Whitmire, working in collaboration with federal agents in Birmingham, have smeared many black public officials throughout their careers as “journalists,” without conducting any kind of independent review of the matters set forth in their smearing campaigns.
Incidentally, federal prosecutors never filed criminal charges against John Archibald's wife for allegedly signing his name to the bankruptcy petition without Archibald's personal knowledge and/or express consent.
Earlier this month, I learned that several national media organizations are developing articles for publication that detail Alabama Power Company’s racketeering scheme under the leadership of former CEO Mark Crosswhite, Joe Perkins, and Matrix, and how this scheme co-opted the independence and journalistic integrity of AL.com, its reporters, and columnists, as well as federal law enforcement establishment in Birmingham.
To this day, AL.com has never disclosed its role in Alabama Power’s scheme to silence and destroy its critics. Likewise, AL.com has never disclosed its receipt of laundered professional- service fees for serving as an undeclared public relations agent for Alabama Power and its political puppets.
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