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UA journalism professor Reed makes ’40 under 40’ list Guest Column: Into the Issues
Arkansas Press Association
Publisher Weekly
By Al Cross
Vol. 16 | No. 33 | Thursday, August 19, 2021 | Serving Press and State Since 1873
Censorship draws resignation from journalism teacher A Bigelow High School journalism teacher and yearbook adviser resigned this month in protest after school administrators who claimed “community backlash” ripped pages out of the school’s yearbooks. Meghan Clarke Walton, a former journalist, was in her second year of teaching at the rural Perry County school. Administrators removed two pages from about 100 yearbooks, she said. The pages featured a timeline of events during the year, highlighting among other things the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol, police killings and former President Trump’s claims of a rigged election. Walton said in an interview this week she stood behind the decision of student editors to produce the timeline for the yearbook, and she had no regrets in taking a stand against censorship. “They (administrators) did say the yearbook was the best yearbook to come out of Bigelow, other than those two pages,” she said. “It’s a shame that’s how
it will be remembered. “I don’t know if this is going to haunt me as I go on in my career, but I do believe my students and I did the right thing.” The Student Press Law Center first reported on the school administration’s censorship actions. SPLC condemned the censorship, noting that Arkansas is one of just 14 states with vigorous protections of student media. The Arkansas Press Association was among a coalition of student press advocates that worked to strengthen Arkansas’s Student Publications Act during the 2019 General Assembly.
from her contract. She said she’s been contacted by the ACLU and the Journalism Educators Association but has referred them to affected students. “The ball is kind of in the court for my students regarding what further action they want to take,” she said. “They’re the ones that live in the
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Walton, for her part, washed her hands of the matter after her resignation. She doesn’t live in the school district and has been released
Shreveport newspaper hires former Arkansas journalist
Misty Castile Photo courtesy Shreveport Times
Gannett this month named former Arkansasbased journalist Misty Castile as editor of the Shreveport Times in Shreveport, Louisiana.
the Hot Springs Village Voice before the company sold the weekly newspaper to Jennifer Allen earlier this year. Castile stayed with Gannett and relocated to Shreveport after the sale.
Castile worked for Gannett as editor of
“I’m so happy to have Misty leading The Times’ newsroom,” said Barbara Leader, Gannett’s Louisiana state editor, in an
As managing editor at Hot Springs Village, Castile won a number of APA awards. While in the state, she was also part of a state leadership team directing news coverage in Mountain Home and Fort Smith.
article in The Times. “I’m confident she will continue the great tradition of strong, local news reporting and increase the depth of coverage through investigative and enterprise journalism in both our digital and print products.” Castile studied at both the University of Central Arkansas and at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Before being named managing editor of the Hot Springs Village Voice, she worked for that newspaper as social media correspondent, production manager and interim editor.