Citing 2019 reports by PEN America and the Brookings Institution, Tom Arenberg, who researches news writing and web metrics as an instructor at the University of Alabama, painted a desolate-yet-hopeful picture of local journalism when he spoke to Alabama Media Professionals at the group’s monthly meeting Feb. 13. As readers and advertisers moved online, ad revenue went to Google and Facebook, not local news publishers, Arenberg said. Between 2004 and 2018, 20 percent of Ameri

Investing resources in digital platforms is important for print-media outlets. But executives of most large newspapers are still talking about the value of their traditional products, Barnett Wright, executive editor of The Birmingham Times Media Group, told Alabama Media Professionals members at the group’s monthly meeting Aug. 10. “We hear that print is dead, and I just don’t believe that,” Wright said during a presentation about digital vs. print. “If you put out a good