Kyle Whitmire

Kyle Whitmire

Kyle Edward Whitmire (born January 13, 1977 in Thomasville) is a political reporter for The Birmingham News. He was previously columnist and new media editor for WELD for Birmingham, and political editor and author of the weekly "War on Dumb" column for the Birmingham Weekly.

Whitmire graduated from Thomasville High School in the Clarke County town (located north of Mobile). He graduated from Birmingham-Southern College in 2001 with a degree in English and Political Science and edited the campus newspaper, Hilltop News. One of his reporters, Glenny Brock, later recruited him to the Weekly.

Whitmire's "War on Dumb" column (originally called "Spin Cycle") was awarded first place for best political column in 2008 in the 55,000-and-under circulation division by the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies and the Medill School of Journalism.

Whitmire's reporting has been used on an ongoing basis by the New York Times. He and the Weekly parted ways after the January 28, 2010 issue of the weekly alternative newspaper. Brock left shortly thereafter. That May, Whitmire launched "The Second Front", an online news blog that also anchored WELD.

References

• Brock, Glenny (June 9, 2008) "War on Dumb wins Altweekly Award." Birmingham Weekly
• Fournier, Rosalind (December 30, 2009) "Fighting City Hall: Is Kyle Whitmire the only guy in town will to tellthe truth about local politics?" [sic] B-Metro
• Buttram, Scott (October 1, 2012) "Alabama Media Group makes statement on Day 1." Trussville Tribune