Lagniappe (newspaper)
| Type | Alternative newspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Tabloid |
| Owner(s) | Something Extra Publishing, Inc. |
| Publisher | Ashley Toland & Rob Holbert |
| Founded | July 24, 2002 |
| Headquarters | 1102-A Dauphin St. Mobile, AL 36604 United States |
| Website | lagniappemobile.com |
Lagniappe - "Something Extra for Mobile" - is a weekly newspaper published in Mobile, Alabama. Lagniappe was first published bi-weekly on July 24, 2002 under the guidance of co-publishers Ashley Toland and Rob Holbert, who now serve as editor and managing editor respectively.[1] Beginning April 2014, Lagniappe is published weekly. Since 2004, the Mobile Press Club has honored Lagniappe for its reporting and features.[2] Lagniappe has also won several awards in the Alabama Press Association's Better Newspaper Contest, the Society of Professional Journalism's Green Eyeshades Awards and the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies' annual contest.
According to Nielsen/Scarborough Media surveys, Lagniappe has a weekly print readership of nearly 80,000 and a monthly web readership of 50,000 viewers, making it the most read privately owned newspaper in south Alabama. Lagniappe is distributed to more than 1,300 locations in Mobile and Baldwin Counties.
Regular sections in Lagniappe are news, commentary, cuisine, music, style, arts, and sports.[1]
Since 2003, Lagniappe has sponsored and hosted the annual "Nappie Awards", where favorite local people, places, and things are chosen by readers' votes.[3]
Lagniappe has also been recognized both statewide and regionally for excellence in journalism, primarily for investigative reporting and commentary. Past investigations have included campaign finance irregularities with former Mayor Sam Jones' campaign, in which he was forced to pay back nearly $10,000 in campaign funds. Lagniappe also led the charge investigating the misuse of federal housing funds by the Mobile Police Department during the Jones administration, in which thousands of dollars meant for the Police Explorers program were used to take police officers and their children snow skiing. The Jones Administration tried repeatedly to block Lagniappe from obtaining records related to the Police Explorers spending, but eventually the paper prevailed, exposing serious corruption that shut the program down. As the corruption was exposed during Jones' attempt to win a third consecutive term in office, many believe it, along with his fight to withhold public documents in the case, played a roll in his defeat.
Lagniappe's investigative reporting history is expansive and has also included an award-winning series on Alabama Power's attempts to bury 21 million tons of toxic coal ash in the Mobile-Tensaw Delta. Another recent series looked back at the history of segregation in Mobile's school system and Lagniappe also won awards for its coverage of the discovery of The Clotilda, the last slave ship to enter the United States.
The newspaper's tough reporting has earned it some critics — mostly those stung by being exposed. But readers have responded for more than 18 years as Lagniappe has grown from an alt-weekly arts and entertainment newspaper to the city's top print news source.
References
- ^ a b "About Lagniappe". Lagniappe. Archived from the original on October 10, 2011. Retrieved July 31, 2011.
- ^ "Jackson native wins Mobile Press Club award". South Alabamian. July 8, 2004. Retrieved July 31, 2011.
- ^ "Lagniappe's Nappie Awards". FOX Newsradio 710. July 14, 2011. Archived from the original on September 27, 2011. Retrieved July 31, 2011.