The paper and the pulpit

When Anthony Cook accepted the editor's job at The Daily Home in Talladega, it was with the stipulation that he would continue as pastor of Christian Fellowship Bible Church in Anniston, Ala. He would be busy on Sundays and needed to leave the office on Wednesdays in time for evening Bible study.

"It's not very different from being an editor," Cook said. "There are similarities. You're in a leadership position.

"You don't manage news, you manage people. It's kind of the same idea when you enter into the ministry."

(Cook is also, oddly, a champion ballroom dancer. We'll explain later.)

Cook, 45, is a native of Munford, about a dozen miles from Talladega in east-central Alabama. He is a graduate of Auburn University and his journalism career has taken him to Anniston, Birmingham and Huntsville.

Cook originally wanted to be an electrical engineer, but physics got in the way. He was on his way to failing the required course for the third time when his Auburn adviser asked what else he was good at. Cook said his best high school grades had been in math and writing, and the result was a change of major to journalism.

By the summer of 1993, he was working a college internship at The Anniston Star, now the flagship daily for Consolidated Publishing, which also owns The Daily Home and several weeklies. At the end of the summer the Star offered Cook a full-time job, so he graduated on a Friday and was back at the paper the following Monday.

"I love what I do. I've never regretted being a journalist," Cook said.

He was working for Alabama Media Group in Birmingham when he was recruited by the Anniston publisher to be editor of The Daily Home and the St. Clair Times, a weekly in adjacent St. Clair County. The Home publishes Tuesdays through Sundays and circulates between 6,000 and 7,000 papers. The daily papers share some coverage, such as the city of Lincoln and the Honda manufacturing plant.

Since taking over in February 2015, Cook has made changes that increase the emphasis on local news and opinion. The editorial page, he said, consisted mainly of wire columnists with only an occasional local editorial. Cook instituted regular editorials on local topics and solicited letters to the editor and local opinion pieces.

Local stories now appear on a business page that once consisted of wire copy. And a two-page school news tab was reduced to one broadsheet page with the other side of the page used for submitted community news and photos that previously could turn up anywhere in the paper. "Now readers know where to look for it and when to look for it," Cook said.

On Saturday nights, Cook can be found at home checking over emailed PDFs of the Sunday pages while preparing for the next day's church service.

Cook was well into his journalism career in 2002 when he felt called to the ministry and began working with his old pastor in Munford. He considers juggling both careers to be a matter of time management, no different than a professional woman balancing motherhood tasks with board meetings.

"In terms of balancing time, you just make it work," Cook said. "What your obligations are, you just meet them."

Working for Alabama Media Group's al.com taught Cook to handle "minute-to-minute" deadlines. Improvements in technology help him write, edit and oversee news coverage remotely without needing to go straight to the office in the event of a breaking news story. In his 12 years as a pastor, Cook says, he called off church only once, when a daylong snowstorm made driving unsafe.

"I don't do any of it on my own. I believe God gives me what I need to do the things I do."

In his personal columns, Cook writes of his religious beliefs and sometimes quotes Bible verses. "I've been well received," he said. The key to community acceptance has been to acknowledge and respect the beliefs of others who may disagree.

"I'm open for a conversation," Cook said. "People who believe differently from me will tell you that you can have a conversation with me about it. You can walk away from me feeling that your thoughts and beliefs were respected. That's how I try to present myself."

Anthony Cook and his dance partner, Dr. Almena "Meme" Free, rehearse for "Dancing with 'Dega Stars." (Tucker Webb/THE DAILY HOME)

Cook has gained some notoriety among Alabama editors for a previously unknown "skill" that has nothing to do with journalism or preaching. Ever since the Alabama Press Association posted an item about his championship in "Dancing with 'Dega Stars" in April, Cook has taken some ribbing.

"I don't dance," Cook explains. Not only did he know nothing about ballroom-style dancing, he didn't dance at all. But the event raised money for scholarships and internships for the Alabama Council for the Blind, and Talladega is home to the Alabama Institute for the Deaf and Blind, and Lynne Hanner, the public relations person for AIDB, had known Cook for 20 years. When he offered to have the paper be a sponsor of the event instead, she said no, she wanted him to be a contestant.

Cook gives his dance partner Dr. Almena "Meme" Free, an Anniston physician with talent and experience in ballroom dancing, all the credit for the victory after two months of rehearsals. "It helped me in terms of being willing to try things I haven't done before. That was totally out of my comfort zone, but I did it because it was for charity. I'm really glad it's over."

Moving forward, Cook urges journalists to "hang in there," in the face of changes and trauma in the industry.

"We are not a dead or dying profession," he said. "I thoroughly believe in what we do as professionals, as journalists, that we are needed and that we are appreciated.

"I think people don't realize that they appreciate us, but they appreciate us when it's necessary to have the facts straight. When it's necessary to be informed about things that matter, they count on us."

"Spotlight: SNPA People" is an occasional series that will focus on executives with SNPA member newspapers. 

Jane Nicholes

Jane Nicholes, a regular contributor to the Southern Newspaper Publishers Association's eBulletin, is a freelance writer and editor based in coastal Alabama. She is an award-winning veteran of more than 30 years in the newspaper business. Reach her at jbnicholes@att.net. Email Jane to nominate someone for an upcoming spotlight article.