I Cover the War

I Cover the War: A Monthly Guide to Culture and Entertainment. was a local monthly alternative newsmagazine that was published between May 1987 and May 1989. The title is shared with a music column by publisher J. R. Taylor that first appeared in The Southsider in May 1986 and continued in the Black & White in the 1990s. (It is also the title of a 1937 Universal feature starring John Wayne). Along with Taylor, I Cover the War was co-edited by Kerry Echols. Contributors included cartoonist Nolen Otts, art director Kevin Mitchell, and writers Courtney Haden, Darren McCarthy, Robin Newberry, and Stephen Smith.

I Cover the War was predominantly Taylor's creation and an outlet for his often controversial takes on Birmingham's music and entertainment scene. It was founded after a year of writing for the Southsider, a paper that Taylor called "the last kind of paper anyone intelligent would want to be associated with." The founding of I Cover the War, which Taylor claims was conceived at the McDonalds on [[University Boulevard], established a magazine intended to appeal to "people too intelligent to read The Southsider. The initial audience was the student and alternative community centered around UAB and Southside, but the magazine gradually gained a more mainstream readership among Birmingham's professionals. Taylor credits Birmingham's savvy advertisers for already being cognizant of a cultured niche that wasn't being served by the Birmingham media. Successful ad sales generated sufficient income for the magazine to turn a profit after only the second issue.