New Ownership for The Birmingham Times
The state’s oldest African American newspaper has a new owner.
The Birmingham Times, was purchased by the Foundation for Progress in Journalism, a Birmingham non-profit. Sam Martin will be the paper’s new publisher. Martin was formerly the publisher for the Montgomery Advertiser.
“We believe there has been a void in the coverage of the African-American community. We will look to fill that void. We will cover a lot of events,” says The Birmingham Times’s next executive editor, Barnett Wright, former political reporter at The Birmingham News.
“That doesn’t just mean things that are related to race,” says Wright. “Taxes, corruption, finances, health…all those things have an impact on the African-American community.”
The Times was founded by Dr. Jesse Lewis more than 50 years ago at the height of the Birmingham Civil Rights Movement.
This is a historic day for me personally,” Dr. Lewis said in The Birmingham Times. “I’m glad to see that The Birmingham Times will continue to live on. When I first published the newspaper in 1964 it was to give the Black community a much-needed platform. The need for that platform continues to exist, so I am honored that The Birmingham Times will continue to exist.”
Pope Leo XIV says ‘inhuman treatment of immigrants’ in the U.S. isn’t ‘pro-life’
Pope Leo XIV weighed in on U.S. politics, saying that Catholic politicians must be judged on the full range of their policy positions and suggesting that the country's immigration policy is "inhuman."
A new documentary about a dastardly worm and a heroic effort by Jimmy Carter
"The President and the Dragon,' premiering today, looks at Carter's momentous decision to try and wipe out a devastating and neglected disease. We spoke to writer and co-director Waleed Eltayeb.
Activists say Israel’s navy has begun intercepting a Gaza-bound aid flotilla
The Global Sumud Flotilla, with Greta Thunberg, Nelson Mandela's grandson and European lawmakers aboard, includes some 50 boats and 500 activists and is carrying a symbolic amount of humanitarian aid.
Colombia: The birthplace of cumbia
One of the most listened-to genres in the Americas, photographers and storytellers Karla Gachet and Ivan Kashinsky document cumbia in Colombia, Mexico, Ecuador, Peru, Argentina and the United States.
Jane Goodall, legendary primatologist, has died at age 91
Jane Goodall, primatologist who transformed our understanding of the lives of apes, has died, according to an announcement from the Jane Goodall Institute.
Trump freezes $18 billion in funding for NYC, home to key Democratic leaders
On the first day of the federal government shutdown, the Trump administration froze "roughly $18 billion" in infrastructure projects for New York City, home to two of Trump's Democratic congressional opponents. It's not the first time Trump has threatened city funding over politics.
