The Crimson White
Encyclopedia
The Crimson White, known colloquially as "The CW," is the student-run newspaper of the University of Alabama
. It is published four times a week -- every weekday except Friday -- throughout the fall and spring semesters and weekly during the summer semester. Its daily circulation in the fall and spring is about 14,000, and it is distributed across the UA campus and Tuscaloosa
community. Since 2009, The Crimson White has built a social media presence of 10,572 Twitter followers and 5,694 Facebook fans as of Nov. 6, 2011, significantly increasing its numbers after covering the April 27, 2011 EF4 tornado that devastated Tuscaloosa.
The newspaper
is editorially independent. The Crimson White's editor and advertising manager are selected annually by the 11-member Media Planning Board (MPB), whose membership includes students, faculty, and media professionals. All staff positions and titles are dependent upon the current Editor-in-Chief and are traditionally decided in mid-April after the next year's Editor had been selected. Depending on ad sales, the newspaper's daily size varies between eight pages and more than 20 pages.
The CW is an affiliate of UWIRE, which distributes and promotes its content to their network.
In March 2010, the Media Planning Board named Victor Luckerson as editor-in-chief for the 2010-2011 school year.
The CWs first known female editor was Barbara Hodge in 1942-43. At least 18 women have held the paper's top job since then. The newspaper's first black editor was Joseph Bryant, who served in 2000-01. Among CW editors who have gone on to greater fame are former U.S. Senator John Sparkman
, Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial writer Ron Casey, and Chicago Tribune
legal affairs reporter Jan Crawford Greenburg. Other famous former CW staffers include longtime New York Yankees
broadcaster Mel Allen
, Crazy in Alabama author Mark Childress
, and New Journalism
pioneer Gay Talese
.
The newspaper has a tradition of bold confrontation with authority figures, including UA administrators, city and state officials, and the Machine
, a select coalition of traditionally white fraternities and sororities designed to influence campus politics. Machine members deny the group's very existence, but The CW named it in 1928 and has covered its behavior aggressively since the late 1960s. In addition to campus news coverage, the newspaper regularly localizes national stories, and it often reports on government affairs and breaking news in Tuscaloosa and Alabama
. The Crimson White's editorial board also frequently endorses candidates in Student Government Association elections and in city, state, and national elections.
The CW and its staff members have won numerous accolades through the years, including Collegiate Crown Awards and Gold Circle Awards. The newspaper also is regularly one of the top winners at the annual Southeastern Journalism Conference.
University of Alabama
The University of Alabama is a public coeducational university located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States....
. It is published four times a week -- every weekday except Friday -- throughout the fall and spring semesters and weekly during the summer semester. Its daily circulation in the fall and spring is about 14,000, and it is distributed across the UA campus and Tuscaloosa
Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Tuscaloosa is a city in and the seat of Tuscaloosa County in west central Alabama . Located on the Black Warrior River, it is the fifth-largest city in Alabama, with a population of 90,468 in 2010...
community. Since 2009, The Crimson White has built a social media presence of 10,572 Twitter followers and 5,694 Facebook fans as of Nov. 6, 2011, significantly increasing its numbers after covering the April 27, 2011 EF4 tornado that devastated Tuscaloosa.
Organization
The CW is part of UA's Office of Student Media (OSM), an auxiliary department overseen by the university's vice president for student affairs. The department also includes the Alabama Scholastic Press Association, the Corolla yearbook, the Black Warrior Review and Marr's Field Journal literary magazines, The Southern Historian history journal, and 90.7 The Capstone, the student-run radio station. The OSM director advises the newspaper staff but has no control over or responsibility for The Crimson White's content.The newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
is editorially independent. The Crimson White's editor and advertising manager are selected annually by the 11-member Media Planning Board (MPB), whose membership includes students, faculty, and media professionals. All staff positions and titles are dependent upon the current Editor-in-Chief and are traditionally decided in mid-April after the next year's Editor had been selected. Depending on ad sales, the newspaper's daily size varies between eight pages and more than 20 pages.
The CW is an affiliate of UWIRE, which distributes and promotes its content to their network.
In March 2010, the Media Planning Board named Victor Luckerson as editor-in-chief for the 2010-2011 school year.
History
The CW began production in 1894 as "The Crimson-White" and derived its name from the team colors of UA athletics teams, crimson and white. The hyphen in the newspaper's name first disappeared from the masthead in the early 1960s and was gone for good by 1974. The paper originally was a weekly publication but added editions through the years until reaching its present four-days-a-week printing schedule by the 1980s.The CWs first known female editor was Barbara Hodge in 1942-43. At least 18 women have held the paper's top job since then. The newspaper's first black editor was Joseph Bryant, who served in 2000-01. Among CW editors who have gone on to greater fame are former U.S. Senator John Sparkman
John Sparkman
John Jackson Sparkman was an American politician from the state of Alabama. A conservative Southern Democrat, Sparkman served in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate from 1937 until 1979. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for Vice President as Adlai Stevenson's running mate in...
, Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial writer Ron Casey, and Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
legal affairs reporter Jan Crawford Greenburg. Other famous former CW staffers include longtime New York Yankees
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the The Bronx, New York. They compete in Major League Baseball in the American League's East Division...
broadcaster Mel Allen
Mel Allen
Mel Allen was an American sportscaster, best known for his long tenure as the primary play-by-play announcer for the New York Yankees. During the peak of his career in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, Allen was arguably the most prominent member of his profession, his voice familiar to millions...
, Crazy in Alabama author Mark Childress
Mark Childress
Mark Childress is an American novelist and southern writer.He has written the novels A World Made of Fire, V for Victor, Tender, Crazy in Alabama, Gone for Good, One Mississippi, and Georgia Bottoms.-Life:Childress grew up in Ohio, Indiana, Mississippi, and Louisiana.He graduated from The...
, and New Journalism
New Journalism
New Journalism was a style of 1960s and 1970s news writing and journalism which used literary techniques deemed unconventional at the time. The term was codified with its current meaning by Tom Wolfe in a 1973 collection of journalism articles he published as The New Journalism, which included...
pioneer Gay Talese
Gay Talese
Gay Talese is an American author. He wrote for The New York Times in the early 1960s and helped to define literary journalism...
.
The newspaper has a tradition of bold confrontation with authority figures, including UA administrators, city and state officials, and the Machine
The Machine
The Machine, the former Alpha Rho chapter of Theta Nu Epsilon at the University of Alabama, is a coalition of traditionally white fraternities and sororities which formed a secret society with some degree of influence over campus and Alabama state politics...
, a select coalition of traditionally white fraternities and sororities designed to influence campus politics. Machine members deny the group's very existence, but The CW named it in 1928 and has covered its behavior aggressively since the late 1960s. In addition to campus news coverage, the newspaper regularly localizes national stories, and it often reports on government affairs and breaking news in Tuscaloosa and Alabama
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
. The Crimson White's editorial board also frequently endorses candidates in Student Government Association elections and in city, state, and national elections.
The CW and its staff members have won numerous accolades through the years, including Collegiate Crown Awards and Gold Circle Awards. The newspaper also is regularly one of the top winners at the annual Southeastern Journalism Conference.