“The Slammer is kicking the Post’s butt out here in the county.” A Rockwell convenience store clerk
Steve Mensing, Editor
♦ In many convenience stores in Rowan County the largest seller of print news is a tabloid called “the Slammer”. One of the fastest growing print newspapers in the United States makes its living on regionally printed mugshots. Every week thousands of The Slammers, selling for a buck, are well positioned at the checkout counters throughout Salisbury, N.C. and the county. It’s said that weekly more than 130,000 copies of The Slammer are trucked to convenience stores in at least 11 major metro areas in Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, North Carolina, Ohio, Kansas and Texas. It all started in Raleigh, N.C.
On the day The Slammer comes out each week loyal readers troop in for their morning coffee and look to plunk a buck down for their favorite mug shot news with its array of criminally inclined lowlifes. Appearing in The Slammer is almost guaranteed to be humiliating with jaw-dropping titles like “Busted”, “Bad Hair”, or “Troubled Minds”. The formula is simple: snatch mug shots from local law enforcement websites and print up rows of them in a tabloid format. Spice it up with a few lines of commentary sure to bring a leer and a knowing snicker. For some readers its their only chance to feel superior to someone.
The Slammer spares no suspect. Whether they got busted for public intoxication, are on the lam for arson, murder, or rape, or got locked up for a DUI, their mugs will likely be seen by army of convenience store devotees and neighbors fueling up and buying a six pack for work.
The story is going around that one area scrap metal thief bought a stack of The Slammers a week after making bond to distribute to his pals in Faith. On rare occasions The Slammer will feature wanted fugitives, “milk carton kids” and missing persons so it may go beyond fulfilling baser interests to being of public service.
Last time I happened into a convenience store out in the County I gestured to a stack of The Slammers near the register.
“How are these selling?” I asked.
“They sell real good,” said the clerk. “Lot of people buy em’ or they page through them when we’re ringing them up. I guess they like to check out their neighbors.”
“Do you sell a lot of Posts?”
“Nowhere near as much as Slammers. We send a lot of Posts back. People are more crime-inclined around here. It’s easier to read. You can lay it on the seat next to you and eyeball the pics.”
“Do you recall any issues that sold out quickly?”
The clerk’s eyes dulled for a moment before they brightened. “When they busted the county commissioner over in Salisbury for stealing cheap wine at a Rushco.”
“Jon Barber?”
“Yep–him. When his mug showed up, The Slammer flew out the door.”
The Slammer although it sells for a dollar is kept profitable by its advertising. It’s said The Slammer began in Raleigh, N.C. about six years ago as the brainchild of publisher Isaac Cornetti who began delivering the early editions of the tabloid with his parent’s minivan. This enterprising young man’s background in journalism was being a delivery boy and reading newspapers.
“Obviously people aren’t going into The Slammer for singing too loudly in church. People’s actions have consequences. Stop using drugs, slow down, stop drinking and driving, stop writing bad checks, keep your hands off other people, behave, it’s really not that difficult to stay out of jail.” Isaac Cornetti, Publisher of The Slammer
People have called The Slammer “trashy”, but apparently a robust market exists for it in Salisbury and Rowan County. No one seems to care that somebody’s mug shows up who may eventually found not guilty. After all we live in the Nancy Grace HLN era when “someone is convicted until proven otherwise”.
An ABC-TV News video about The Slammer:
