Aid Alabama Student Media This Giving Tuesday
We're focusing on public records and professional development in the new year. Here's how you can help.
It’s been another successful year for student media at Alabama. In case you missed it, Nineteen Fifty-Six was a finalist for multiple national Pacemaker awards, including best student magazine. The Crimson White was also a finalist in a number of categories, including in the field of editorial writing for its column criticizing the University’s decision to rename a campus building after both Autherine Lucy and former Ku Klux Klan member and Alabama governor Bibb Graves. Congrats to the student leaders who are speaking truth to power and celebrating the experiences of their peers at the same time.
As we look towards 2023, MASTHEAD is organizing another Giving Tuesday campaign to continue its mission to provide more opportunities for student journalists of color at UA, and helping equip all students to ably cover our increasingly diverse society. Our mentorship program, which pairs student journalists of color with media professionals for one-on-one guidance, has expanded this year to include editors at both Nineteen Fifty-Six and The Crimson White. We’ve amplified the work of the Nineteen Fifty-Six staff by mailing issues of the magazine to reporters and recruiters at The New York Times, Teen Vogue, and 60 Minutes. And we’re looking forward to the second installment of our spring speaker series soon, following up on last April’s virtual campus visit by Atlantic staff writer Hannah Giorgis.
We’re once again hoping you can contribute to our efforts on this Giving Tuesday to help us execute on these initiatives and more. We’ve been listening to feedback from student leaders and Office of Student Media staff about the most pressing needs for the publications right now. If you give today, your donation will also help out on these two additional new fronts:
Launching a “FOIA Fund”
We’ve heard from students that public records fees charged by the University and court case databases such as PACER are becoming prohibitively expensive. In 2023 we intend to launch a “FOIA Fund” to empower students to get access to the documents they need to do their work. Student journalists will be able to apply for MASTHEAD funds to meet the cost gap in obtaining documents for specific editorial assignments. We’ll also be offering the expertise of members of our board on how to best request (and eventually insist on) access to public records, and engaging the larger alumni pool to make our voices heard on Freedom of Information Day in the spring. Your donation will help student journalists know someone’s got their back as they attempt to investigate goings-on at the University and beyond.
Making a Splash at NABJ 2023
In August, the annual meeting of the National Association of Black Journalists will be held in Birmingham. We’re working with the Office of Student Media to ensure that UA students are able to have a big presence at the event, which is a great opportunity for networking and professional development. We are hoping to work with the leaders at Nineteen Fifty-Six so they can present all the amazing work they’ve been doing at a panel during the event. Your donation will help pay for student registration fees and/or travel expenses.
Thank you so much for continuing to support the work of MASTHEAD and be engaged with student media at UA. We hope you’ll give what you can this week and as we enter the holiday season. We’re excited to offer anyone who donates $50 or more a subscription to this year’s editions of Nineteen Fifty-Six–that’s the Fall 2022 and Spring 2023 issues, which we’ll mail to your door as soon as they’re available.
Donate today and help us continue to grow in our support of Alabama student media.