95th Arkansas General Assembly Legislative Report
Arkansas Press Association PUBLISHER
Vol.20 | No. 8 | Thursday, February 20, 2025 | Serving Press and State Since 1873
Alex Golden provides local coverage through Axios NW Arkansas
Community journalism in Arkansas comes in varied forms.
One successful example involves the work of Axios NW Arkansas reporter Alex Golden, who produces a daily newsletter for the region, along with fellow reporter Worth Sparkman
The newsletter is emailed to subscribers at 6:30 a.m. Monday through Friday and typically requires about five to 10 minutes to read with a normal length of less than 1,000 words. It also is available on the Axios website.
Golden had a more traditional early career in journalism prior to assuming her current position, often writing articles in the familiar “long-form” style.
“It was a transition for me, but journalism doesn’t change as far as the process of reporting a story,” Golden said. “All the same skills transfer easily.”
Golden said brevity is a key to her current work, along with a more casual and conversational style. “And we want to get information to our readers as quickly as possible,” she said.
One of the unique aspects of the format is that readers often become familiar with the reporters over a period of time. “We are doing objective reporting, but it is more like you heard the news from your friend,” Golden said. “People reply to what we are doing and there is not a wall. They express what they like and don’t like
and often give us story ideas. If there is something we are curious about, probably others are too.
“That’s where a lot of the community journalism aspect of it occurs,” she said. “We just mainly want people to be informed about things that affect their lives.
“Axios’ model is just smart and savvy,” Golden continues. “People are hungry for straightforward information that helps them understand a fast-paced world. We write the newsletters keeping in mind that we only get a few minutes of readers’ time and during those few minutes we want to make sure they’re getting quality information they need to know and information that helps them be more engaged with their communities.”
The NW Arkansas Axios outlet is one of 30 throughout the country. Axios was founded in 2016 and acquired six years later by Cox Enterprises, a media company headquartered in Atlanta.
At the time of the acquisition, Cox announced that “the deal is structured to ensure investments will continue to flow into local news at a time when most commercial investors have abandoned local markets.”
The announcement also noted that “Cox is a multigenerational, family-owned business that got its start in local newspapers. It wants to ensure local news remains a part of its legacy in the digital era.”
Golden’s writing generally covers the governmental, business and lifestyle news of Northwest Arkansas, with an average of four to six articles in the newsletter every day. On occasion, there will be a day devoted to a single topic, such as a recent in-depth article on the construction of new hotels in the region. Part of the local aspect of the story is that those new hotels often include restaurants and bars that will be of interest to readers.
A daily feature of the product is a news roundup that enables readers with a busy lifestyle to keep up with important events in a timely fashion.
The reporting is “hyper local” but the connection with other Axios outlets around the country results in an occasional national story being presented, with an emphasis on how it affects NWA readers.
The restaurant scene is always a popular topic, leading to a “Monday
Alex Golden (photo courtesy of Axios)
GOLDEN
Continued from page 1
Munchies” feature. “The food theme has definitely developed a lot of traction,” Golden said. “There are new restaurants to write about, but the growth of the area means there are a lot of people moving in who don’t know about what was already out there.
“We make it our business to understand the places and the people we report on. Community journalism means paying attention to issues that mean the most to our readers – that can be anything from how a new law affects them to how the music or restaurant scenes are changing in their area.”
Golden said that, in the polarized political atmosphere of today, the Axios site does not take a partisan slant. “That comes natural with me and is not a problem,” she said. “I just want to be a trustworthy outlet for people.”
“There’s a strong sense of camaraderie in Axios Local, and I feel like I have friends in 30 other American cities,” Golden said. “Having a network of talented journalists who are doing the same job in different parts of the country helps me do a better job and is a unique gift.”
The national Axios website explains that most of the company’s revenue “comes from high-level brand awareness across the national newsletters.” Other areas of revenue include sponsored events and subscriptions.
Golden said the advertisements clearly are marked as such, “and the advertising side is completely separate from the editorial side.”
The newsletters are free to those who sign up, but paid memberships are available to those who want to support local journalism. “Members get some perks like exclusive quarterly emails and birthday shout-outs in the newsletter,” she said.
Golden graduated from Cabot High School in 2012 and earned a degree in journalism and international affairs from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville in 2016. As a student, she wrote for the Arkansas Traveler newspaper, serving as features editor her senior year. She also was editor of the student magazine, The Hill, as a senior.
Additionally, Golden held summer internships at the Jonesboro Sun and the Los Angeles Times during her college days.
Her first full-time position involved covering education and city government at the Fort Smith Times-Record from 2016 to 2018. Her next stop was the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette,
where she covered Rogers city government and the regional health scene.
Golden started at Axios in the spring of 2021, and she and Sparkman have co-written the newsletter since its inception. She and her husband, Trenton Yeakley, and their three cats, Shirley, Romeo and Bea, live in Bella Vista. Her husband is a high school teacher. She enjoys hiking, traveling, trying out new restaurants and attending concerts and comedy shows.
“I love living in Northwest Arkansas because there’s always something to do and I can easily go to any of the cities and have a good experience,” Golden said. “It’s also pretty easy to meet people and get involved. Being a journalist in Northwest Arkansas is exciting because there’s so much rapid change and growth that I get to stay on top of and plenty of folks doing cool stuff that they’re willing to chat with me about.”
Golden certainly seems to have found her niche in the world of local journalism and expresses a sense of satisfaction that she is making a difference in her exciting day-to-day work.
“I’m incredibly lucky to have never questioned my career choice,” Golden said. “I’ve only ever wanted to write, learn new things and have a free pass to talk to anyone about anything. Everyone has their strengths that make them best equipped to make the world a bit better in some way, and I feel that mine best equips me to make society better by making it more informed. We’re all better when we’re armed with information and when we read stories about people we don’t know and things we haven’t thought about. I like facts and people and am excessively curious about both.”
Golden near the Mississippi River in Minneapolis last fall.
Divisions range from traditional print and broadcast to podcasts and communications.
All finalists will be honored at the Arkansas Pro SPJ annual meeting and awards ceremony in July.
Deadline to enter is March 3. Enter at Arkansasspj.org or scan the code below.
Arkansas SPJ has proudly partnered with to award
Longtime newspaper publisher, editor Rick Wright dies at 67
Former Dumas Clarion publisher and editor Richard “Rick” Wright died on January 29. He was 67.
Wright had joined the Clarion in 2020 following the death of longtime publisher Terry G. Hawkins the previous year. He retired from the newspaper in 2023.
Born in 1957 to the late Billy and Lynda Wright, he served more than 45 years in the newspaper industry. He began his newsroom career as a reporter and photographer, hammering out stories on an Underwood typewriter and spending hours in the darkroom developing film. Among his many roles was editor at The Mena Star, The DeQueen Bee, the Waldron News, the Dardanelle Post-Dispatch, The Courier in Russellville, the Hot Springs Village Voice, The Hope Star, The Helena-West Helena World and the Copper Country News in Globe, Arizona. He also was sports editor at the Mesquite (Texas) News and a sportswriter for the Dallas Morning News
Alongside his award-winning newspaper career, Wright served as a minister for the Church of God and non-denominational churches for more than 40 years. He also was a professional bull rider, finishing sixth in the world on two occasions. Wright was named the PRCA Bull Riding Rookie of the Year in 1977 and was a two-time qualifier for the National Finals Rodeo.
In addition to his parents, Wright was predeceased by a daughter, Renee. He is survived by his wife Mitzi Wright, ten children and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren. No services were announced.
Upcoming APA ad conference to include baseball outing
Attendees at the upcoming APA Advertising Conference will be treated to a night out at the ballpark, including dinner, on Thursday, April 10.
Save the date and make plans now to join newspaper advertising professionals from around the state watch the Arkansas Travelers face the Tulsa Drillers from a climate-controlled premium suite at Dickey-Stephens Park. With 24 outdoor balcony seats and plenty of indoor seating, the suite also boasts a large-screen television and a refrigerator stocked with a selection of beverages.
Registration information for the 2025 APA Advertising Conference will be available soon.
Annual ad contest entry deadline coming
next week
The deadline to enter the annual APA Better Newspaper Advertising Contest is Feb. 28. Member newspapers and media members are encouraged to present their creativity and hard work from the 2024 calendar year.
There are 20 categories across four divisions in this year’s contest, including single ad, multiple advertiser ad, best advertising special section, most original idea, use of humor in advertising and more. Winners will be recognized at the annual APA Advertising Conference on April 10-11 in Little Rock.
For complete contest rules and instructions, visit https:// newspapercontest.com/Contests/ArkansasPressAssociation.aspx
If you have questions about the contest or the online submission process, contact Terri Cobb at (501) 374-1500 or email terri@ arkansaspress.org
Rick Wright
Guest Column: Healthy, growing newspapers: The secret is
making changes now, instead of later
By Kevin Slimp
Those of you who pay attention to such things – and I’m guessing that’s not too many of you – may have noticed I didn’t spend nearly as much time speaking at conventions in 2024. It wasn’t because I didn’t get invited. I just decided to see what would happen if I took a year away from speaking to focus on other things. I did several newspaper redesigns, which took a lot of time. I traveled from coast to coast and led focus groups for newspapers. I also spent more time at home, overseeing my businesses here.
After 30 years in the speaking business, I’ve learned a lot. Three times over those 30 years, I took a year away from speaking to focus on other things. I noticed two things that always seemed to happen after a year away from speaking. First, I saw the demand for my speaking increase significantly after a year off the road. I guess that makes sense. Secondly, it seemed like – not always on purpose – I reinvented myself after time away from the road. The focus of my speaking changed. New topics, along with new audiences, were often the result.
In the early days, I spoke almost exclusively about software. I would probably talk about it or teach related classes if it was a popular application.
Next, almost by accident, I traveled to major universities to talk to faculty members about this new thing called the Internet and how it would disrupt the journalism world. Because of my role at The University of Tennessee Newspaper Institute, I was a trusted voice by most schools of journalism faculty. A few of you might remember when Rob Curley, now executive editor of The Spokesman-Review in Spokane, and I spoke – not together, but independently – to newspaper audiences about the potential for online news. I think Rob would agree that we both got some things right and some wrong.
Following a break in the early 2000s, I found myself speaking a lot about the future of newspapers. Most folks had already decided there was no future, so I decided my role – at least for the next few years was to offer a dissenting view on the subject. I made a lot of friends and a lot of detractors during that period. Saying newspapers weren’t dead wasn’t a popular opinion at the time.
I find myself at the beginning of another year after a “break year.” I’ve already spoken at a few newspaper conferences, and my
calendar is packed with upcoming conferences. Fascinating (to me, at least) is that I’m noticing the topics drawing the larger crowds are different than in previous years. I suppose that’s only natural.
Sure, I still get asked to teach software classes occasionally –photo editing classes are still a big draw – but most classes seem related to growing newspapers. People are especially interested in information about redesigning – which includes more than just the design – their newspapers and working with advertisers to create marketing campaigns. Sessions where I invite publishers to bring copies of their newspapers, which I critique in front of the audience, are especially popular. I’ve had attendees write to me afterward and tell me they were about to close their papers before attending one of my critiquing sessions, and, yes, the paper turned around after they returned home and made changes based on what they learned.
Audiences seem to love learning about focus groups. Both what I’ve learned through leading focus groups throughout the U.S. and how they can conduct focus groups of their own.
Just to be clear, this isn’t a promotion for my work. I’ve never been busier and often wonder how I’ll finish everything. I hope readers understand from this column that newspapers evolve and grow continuously. I hear from publishers regularly who want me to know how their changes have revived – and sometimes, saved –their newspapers.
There’s no good reason to delay innovation. Gather your staff together immediately and begin discussing steps your newspaper needs to take to start revitalization immediately.
I don’t know how many new versions of me lie ahead. Still, in this edition, I’m enjoying seeing newspapers renewed and resuscitated after making decisions to make changes rather than giving in to the “newspapers are dead” mentality.
Kevin Slimp is a popular consultant, advisor and trainer in the newspaper industry. From 1997-2018, Kevin directed The Newspaper Institute of The University of Tennessee. He currently serves as CEO of Market Square Publishing and Chief Guru at NewspaperAcademy. com.
95th Arkansas General Assembly
Legislative Report
APA is monitoring the following bills of interest to our industry and the public:
Bill No. / Author Short Description
HB 1042
Rep. Collins To Create The Direct Democracy Act Of 2025; To Repeal The Ensuring Access For All Arkansans And Voter Protection Act Of 2023; And To Amend The Procedure For The Filing Of A Ballot Initiative Petition And Referendum Petition.
https://bit.ly/3WHRRDt
HB 1141
Rep. Richardson To Create Criminal Offenses Related To Deceptive And Injurious Media In The Course Of Election Campaigns.
HB 1221
Rep. Ray
HB 1222
https://bit.ly/3El11zK
To Amend Arkansas Law Concerning Initiatives, Referenda, And Constitutional Amendments; And To Declare An Emergency.
https://bit.ly/3Cjmjgx
Rep. Ray To Require The Attorney General To Review Ballot Titles For Conflicts With The United States Constitution And Federal Statutes; And To Ban Submission Of Multiple Initiative Petitions And Referendum Petitions.
https://bit.ly/4hz961L
SB 12
Sen. King To Amend The Freedom Of Information Act Of 1967; To Subject All Communication With The Board Of Apportionment To The Freedom Of Information Act Of 1967; And To Establish A Penalty.
https://bit.ly/42zIutn
SB 207
Sen. Hammer To Amend The Law Concerning Initiative And Referendum Petitions; To Require A Canvasser To Disclose That Petition Fraud Is A Class A Misdemeanor; And To Declare An Emergency.
https://bit.ly/4hB3EvY
SB 208
Sen. Hammer To Amend The Law Concerning Initiative And Referendum Petitions; To View A Canvasser To Request Photo Identification Before Obtaining A Signature; And To Declare An Emergency.
https://bit.ly/4jQqQbb
SB 209
Sen. Hammer To Disqualify Signatures Obtained By A Canvasser Under Certain Circumstances; And To Declare An Emergency.
https://bit.ly/4hAzAR6
SB 210
Sen. Hammer To Require The Signer To Read The Ballot Title Of The Petition In The Presence Of A Canvasser; And To Declare An Emergency.
https://bit.ly/4hUyDCS
SB 211
Sen. Hammer To Amend The Law Concerning Initiative Petitions And Referendum Petitions; To Require A Canvasser To Submit An Affidavit Before Signatures Can Be Counted; And To Declare An Emergency.
https://bit.ly/4hX4anw
SB 212
Sen. Hammer To Create The Document Validity Division; And To Declare An Emergency. https://bit.ly/4aZsrXU
SB 227
Sen. Tucker To Amend The Freedom Of Information Act Of 1967; And To Amend The Provisions Of The Freedom Of Information Act Of 1967 Concerning Public Meetings.
https://bit.ly/42WfEUm
Current Status
Reported correctly engrossed - House
Reported correctly engrossed - House
Correctly enrolled and ordered transmitted to the Governor’s Office - House
Correctly enrolled and ordered transmitted to the Governor’s Office - House
Returned by the Committee, with the recommendation that it Do Pass - Senate
Amendment No. 1 read and adopted and the bill ordered engrossed - House
Re-referred to the Committee on State Agencies & Govt’l Affairs - House
Motion to Expunge the Vote by which the Emergency Clause failed of adoption. Motion carried. - Senate
Motion to Expunge the Vote by which the Emergency Clause failed of adoption. Motion carried. - Senate
Re-referred to the Committee on State Agencies & Govt’l Affairs - House
Re-referred to the Committee on State Agencies & Govt’l Affairs - Senate
Adopted, ordered engrossed