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Longtime Anniston Star publisher H. Brandt “Brandy” Ayers has died

H. Brandt “Brandy” Ayers, the longtime publisher of The Anniston Star and a number of weekly papers in Alabama has died. He was 85. Ayers was the President of Consolidated Publishing. The company and Ayers are best known for the Anniston Star, but the company also owns and publishes: The Talladega Daily Home, The Cleburne … Continued
May 5, 2020

Yeah, people are ‘disgruntled’

We have to give credit to the staff at the University of Alabama’s Crimson White newspaper. They carefully and accurately reported a difficult story about the hiring of the university’s new director of the Office of Student Media. That’s what good journalism is all about. One of the top candidates for UA director of student … Continued
July 25, 2019

APR welcomes a new reporter

Eddie Burkhalter moved to Alabama from his home state of Georgia in 2001. While studying social work at Jacksonville State University, he took a job at a local weekly newspaper and a few years later moved on to that company’s daily, The Anniston Star. He spent almost a decade at The Star, covering education, business, … Continued
June 24, 2019

The Ayers factor: A disturbing lack of compassion

When former Anniston Star publisher H. Brandt Ayers admitted last year to assaulting women who worked for him — including my wife Veronica when she was a young reporter — Ayers resigned as chairman of Consolidated Publishing, the company that owns the Star and other newspapers. Ayers was supposed to have nothing more to do … Continued
May 9, 2019

Brandy Ayers stole “normal” from the women he abused

Shortly after the Anniston Star posted a story that Washington Post Executive Editor Martin “Marty” Baron was coming to Anniston to deliver the annual Ayers Lecture, the rumblings started. On the surface, it appeared to be an insult to the many women, including my wife, Veronica, who were abused by H. Brandt Ayers, former publisher … Continued
February 28, 2019

Former Anniston Star reporters say paper’s former publisher and current chairman sexually assaulted them

By Eddie Burkhalter Special to the Alabama Political Reporter As news articles broke throughout 2017 of men and women coming forward, sometimes decades afterward, to say they’d been sexually assaulted and harassed, former Anniston Star reporters took notice. Some of these former female Star reporters say H. Brandt Ayers, the paper’s former publisher and current … Continued
January 1, 2018

Marsh’s Call To Define Journalist Causes Blow-Back from Conservatives

By Bill Britt Alabama Political Reporter In an opinion piece published by several newspapers throughout the State, the presumptive Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh wrote that, “Freedom of the press is not going anywhere in Alabama.” (See article here.) Marsh is responding to the negative attention he has received after saying he wanted to … Continued
December 9, 2014

Defining a Journalist

By Bill Britt Alabama Political Reporter MONTGOMERY—According to Reporters Without Boarders, there have been 59 Journalists killed, 12 media assistants killed, 21 “Netizens” and citizen journalists killed and 176 journalists imprisoned so far this year. Reporters Without Boarders notes that, “Journalists killed” includes only cases in which the organizations clearly established that “the victim was … Continued
November 26, 2014

Beware: You Are Next

By Bill Britt Alabama Political Reporter “First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Socialist. Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Trade Unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak … Continued
November 19, 2014