YHN Media Group

Yellowhammer Multimedia (originally Yellowhammer News) is a media and public relations company founded in 2013 by Cliff Sims as an outgrowth of his "Yellowhammer" conservative-leaning political weblog (launched in 2011) and Yellowhammer Strategies, a media consulting firm. The company publishes a website with news stories, opinion pieces and multimedia features. It has also produced a syndicated radio program hosted by Sims, and offered a clothing line featuring its Yellowhammer bird silhouette logo.

The company, which was co-owned by Tim Howe and John Ross, both lobbyists and former directors of the Alabama Republican Party, moved into offices in the Age-Herald Building on 5th Avenue North.

In 2014 former Mobile Register investigative reporter Eddie Curran revealed ties between Yellowhammer and Alabama House of Representatives Mike Hubbard, along with Sims' former employer, the SAHR Group lobbyists and political consultants and identified the site as part of a smear campaign against Alabama Public Service Commission member Terry Dunn. That same year, Yellowhammer News was named "State Blog of the Year" at the 2014 Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington D.C.

In 2015 editor Elizabeth BeShears left the company after being directed by Sims not to publish a profile of Jonathan McConnell, who was challenging incumbent Senator Richard Shelby in the 2016 Republican primary. She later learned that Shelby's campaign had employed Howe and Ross as consultants and spent more than $10,000 on advertisements on the site.

Yellowhammer News partnered with the Alabama Department of Commerce to host the 2016 Alabama Economic Growth Summit at the Ross Bridge Resort.

After Sims was hired as Assistant Communications Director for White House Message Strategy under President Donald Trump, he handed over the role of CEO to Brian Ellis. Sims later sold his stake in Yellowhammer Multimedia to Clearcom Digital LLC, a business owned by Joshua Jones, CEO of data analytics firm StrategyWise and a former business partner of Del Marsh. Ellis remained CEO of Yellowhammer and Larry Huff was named executive editor for content.

In September 2017 Jones sold the business to Allison Ross of Memphis, Tennessee. Ellis remained on staff as CEO. Ross brought on J. Pepper Bryars as editor, and his wife, Rachel as managing editor. The Bryarses left the publication in July 2018, following a disagreement about the site's endorsement of Roy Moore's Senate run. Howe is the current publisher and editor.

References

• Curran, Eddie (2014) "E-mails Reveal Role of Power Co lobbyists in Yellowhammer News attacks on Dunn" mrdunngoestomontgomery.com - accessed January 21, 2016
• Mayberry, Sherry (June 27, 2015) "Marshall folks part of Yellowhammer News." The Advertiser-Gleam
• West, Ty (May 1, 2017) "Birmingham CEO buys Sims' stake in Yellowhammer Multimedia." The Birmingham News
• Gore, Leada (May 2, 2017) "Who owns Yellowhammer? Joshua Jones talks plans for the conservative political website." The Birmingham News
• West, Ty (September 15, 2017) "Birmingham CEO sells stake in Yellowhammer." Birmingham Business Journal
• Gore, Leada (July 13, 2018) "Yellowhammer editors leave." The Birmingham News
• Gore, Leada (August 17, 2018) "Lobbyist listed as owner, editor of Yellowhammer blog." The Birmingham News
• Smiley, Lauren (Winter 2019) "As You Like It: A partisan site in Alabama exploits trust in local news" Columbia Journalism Review
• Folkenflik, David; Mario Ariza & Miranda Green (December 19, 2022) "In the Southeast, power company money flows to news sites that attack their critics". NPR.org
• Banks, Richard (December 23, 2022) "Investigation Accuses Alabama Power of Funneling Money to Local News Sites for Favorable Coverage." WBHM.org / BirminghamWatch

External links

• Yellowhammer News website