Please find enclosed Alabama Public Radio’s entry for the Edward R. Murrow Award for Overall Excellence, titled “Alabama 2018.” The APR news team is made up of myself, assistant news director Stan Ingold, and Morning Edition host Alex AuBuchon.
April 4, 2018 marked fifty years since the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Junior. The three member APR news team spent five months, with no budget, reporting on King’s crusade, which began in Alabama 1955 with the Montgomery bus boycott, and almost ended violently in March of 1968 in the rural town of Greensboro two weeks before he was struck down in Memphis. The Ku Klux Klan learned King was speaking in the town of Eutaw and sent an armed hit squad to kill him.
The APR news team also covered King’s legacy from the perspective of Southern Courier photographer Jim Peppler, as well as Jawana Jackson. Her family home became King’s headquarters during the Selma voting rights marches in 1965. King’s impact goes beyond the United States. In 2016, Alabama Public Radio hosted journalism Ousmane Sagara from the West African nation of Mali, where roads, parks, and even an English language education club is named for the slain civil rights leader. Sagara reported from Mali on how his nation feels about King fifty years after his death. Finally, Alabama is the only state in the nation where the birthday of Confederate General Robert E. Lee is observed on the same day as the national holiday for Martin Luther, King, Junior. APR student reporter Allison Mollenkamp headed to Montgomery for competing remembrances.
Alabama voters headed to polls for the midterm elections. APR focused on “Emerge Alabama” which sought to recruit and train progressive female candidates to challenge the state’s mostly male, mostly Republican incumbents. We also examined a proposed constitutional amendment that would legalize the display of the Ten Commandments in state buildings and schools. APR also examined the differences between the Republican and Democrats in Alabama.
2018 also included Alabama protests to protect special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation following the naming of Matthew Whitaker as U.S. Attorney General. A multi-agency sting operation on gun violence in West Central Alabama resulted in thirty eight arrests. The Alabama Crimson Tide’s won a razor thin victory over Georgia to win the 2017 College Football Championship. APR also produced lighter features on Tuscaloosa ghost tours, the “Secret stages” music festival, and another event featuring cigar box guitars. The City of Mobile’s public library also hosted its first ever “Drag Queen Story Hour.”
Examples of Alabama Public Radio's web presence are featured below.
Respectfully submitted,
Pat Duggins
News Director
Alabama Public Radio
List of stories
Pat Duggins’ outro
Stan Ingold’s outro
Alex AuBuchon’s Outro
Student reporter Allison Mollenkamp’s outro
Student reporter Tina Turner’s outro
Pat Duggins on Mobile’s Drag Queen Story Hour
Alex AuBuchon on multi-agency gun crackdown
Pat Duggins on Robert Mueller protest march
Tina Turner on Tuscaloosa ghost tour
Pat Duggins on Emerge Alabama
Alex AuBuchon on Alabama Party Politics
Stan Ingold on Ten Commandments ballot item
Alex AuBuchon on Cigar Box Guitar Festival
Pat Duggins on Alabama’s title win over Georgia
Alex Aubuchon on “Secret Stages” Festival
MLK Series
Pat Duggins on “We Kept Him Safe”
Stan Ingold on Photographer Jim Peppler
Guest Reporter Ousmane Sagara on Mali and MLK
Alex AuBuchon on “The House Where the World Came In”
Student reporter Allison Mollenkamp on “The Believers”
APR Newscast
