Alaina Bookman covers violence prevention in Birmingham, Alabama, for AL.com. Raised in Dallas, she developed an interest in social activism during the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement. After moving to pursue her bachelor’s degree in journalism at the University of Texas at Austin, she fell in love with the city’s commitment to justice and tolerance. She covered social issues affecting the Black community. She also worked at the UT Austin Benson Latin American Collection as an AKA scholar Black diaspora archive intern, assisting in processing the Miss Black Austin Pageant collection. She also interned with the public affairs team at the university’s College of Liberal Arts, where she wrote press releases and articles for Life and Letters Magazine.
Beat: Violence prevention
AL.com is committing to deep coverage of Birmingham, Alabama’s record homicide rate. 144 people died in 2022, the most in decades. Gun violence, domestic violence, mental health and unsolved crimes are a serious topic of discussion and debate in Birmingham. We are looking for a violence prevention reporter who can plug into that effort and bring a dedicated solutions lens to this coverage. This reporter would work within the AL.com newsroom, but also contribute to an ongoing collaboration with the Birmingham Times, a Black-owned newspaper that also is investing in coverage.