Arkansas Publisher Weekly: March 13, 2024

By Pam Lowe

Annual Sunshine Week celebrates Freedom of Information Act; Helena World latest APA newspaper to win FOIA battle in court

Sunshine Week, launched in 2005 by the American Society of News Editors, is being celebrated March 10-16 by newspapers in Arkansas and across the nation.

According to the Society of Professional Journalists, the special week promotes the mission “to shine light into the dark recesses of government secrecy.”

The key vehicle for this effort in Arkansas is the Freedom of Information Act, passed by the state legislature in 1967, representing one of the strongest government transparency laws in the nation.

Unfortunately, the FOIA is under regular attack in the state, most recently in a special legislative session in 2023 that was fought aggressively by the Arkansas Press Association and other supporters of the tenets expressed in Sunshine Week.

Arkansas newspapers regularly use the FOIA to obtain information from public bodies but, on occasion, a wall of opposition is erected. Such was the case recently when the Helena-West Helena School District administration refused to release pertinent information relating to an on-campus student fight that occurred last December. After unsuccessful attempts to obtain video of the fight and related information, Helena World Editor and Publisher Andrew Bagley sued the school district. Bagley pointed out the newspaper agreed

from the start to accept video and information with faces blurred and names redacted.

Following a lengthy period of negotiations among attorneys for each party, the district finally agreed to provide the surveillance video. Bagley noted the newspaper retained the services of attorney John Tull, perhaps the foremost legal expert in Arkansas concerning government transparency issues. The newspaper editor also said that, after the district eventually retained Jonesboro attorney Don Mixon, negotiations proceeded more favorably.

As part of the settlement, the district also agreed to pay the Helena World’s legal fees.

Bagley said the school district’s superintendent, Dr. Keith McGee, maintained from the beginning that all information was exempt due to the Family and Educational Rights and Privacy Act, resulting in the publisher maintaining the restrictions were “so broad you wouldn’t be able to get the Honor Roll.”

The Helena-West Helena School District is being operated under state control because of a Level 5 classification by the state Board of Education, citing a lack of licensed teachers and management issues in the school system. This is the third time the state has assumed operation of the local district.

FOIA

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FOIA, public officials will cover up and hide. They want to put public relations ahead of following the law.

“It is essential that the FOIA remain in place. If everybody elected to public office were good, honest and up front, you wouldn’t need the FOIA, but they aren’t.”

Bagley said his newspaper office has petitions that citizens can sign to place the Arkansas Government Disclosure Amendment and Act on the ballot and he is publishing advertisements in support of the campaign. “You just can’t state strongly enough how important this effort is,” he said.

Ashley Kemp Wimberley, executive director of the APA, praised the Helena World for its commitment to protecting the public’s right to know and called the outcome not only a win for the citizens of Helena-West Helena but also the people of Arkansas.

“The citizens have a right to know what is going on in their schools with their taxpayer dollars,” Wimberley said. “It’s just as important for the district to follow the FOIA as they would any other law. Andrew was diligent in this process, and we are proud of his efforts.

World from GateHouse Media as the corporate owner was preparing to close the newspaper in September of 2019. They additionally purchased the Monroe County Argus in Brinkley in September of 2022.

“I think we are meeting the challenges that the industry faces as well as anyone could,” Bagley said of his newspaper operations.

“This is a perfect example of putting the ideals of Sunshine Week into practice and the APA is proud of all Arkansas newspapers that continue to fight for transparency in government on behalf of their readers and all citizens.”

Bagley and his business partner, Chuck Davis, acquired the Helena

“We are located in two of the poorest counties in Arkansas, and one of them is one of the poorest in the country, but we are making a go of it, and I think people appreciate what we are doing.”

The Helena World has won the General Excellence Award in its circulation category in APA competition for the past two years. “Overall, I am very proud of the work that we are doing in this newspaper environment,” he said.

Development of the Delta News Foundation non-profit corporation, as well as a lowpower radio station in Helena, are two of his current projects.

A native of nearby Barton, Bagley has been a professor in history and political science at Phillips Community College of the University of Arkansas for the past 18 years. Therefore, he certainly has a full plate each week.

“The newspaper is a labor of love for me,” he said. “Once we have paid the staff and all the bills, if there is anything left over, that is my salary.”

Bagley with his wife, Sandra, and their family.

Helena World publisher-editor Bagley speaks at a meeting of the local Kiwanis Club.

The offices of the Helena World

Field tapped to serve as new editor at Arkansas Business

Arkansas Business has hired Hunter Field, currently serving as deputy editor of the Arkansas Advocate, as its next editor.

The hiring, announced last Friday by Arkansas Business Publishing Group owner and president Mitch Bettis, is effective March 28. Field succeeds Lance Turner, who left the publication in December 2023. Former editor Gwen Moritz has served as interim editor since, and will return to a role as contributing editor.

“For the last two decades at Arkansas Business we have had editors who were smart, thoughtful and passionate about providing content that helps the state’s executives and top leaders make good decisions,” Bettis said in the announcement of Field’s hire. “We’re confident Hunter will continue that tradition, and I know he’s committed to that mission.”

Field holds a degree from the University of Memphis in Tennessee. He started his career in journalism as a sports reporter at The Commercial Appeal in Memphis. He moved to Arkansas in 2014 as a general news reporter for the Jonesboro Sun. In 2016 he joined the Arkansas DemocratGazette as a general assignment reporter, then covered state government and politics at the newspaper’s State Capitol bureau. He went on to become assistant city editor and projects editor, where he oversaw the newspaper’s investigative team.

Field has been the deputy editor of the Arkansas Advocate, an online news nonprofit, since 2022.

“I’m extremely excited to join Arkansas Business and all of its talented journalists,” Field said in the announcement. “They have been setting the standard for coverage of

our state’s business community for a long time, and I’m honored that I get to be a part of and help lead that work.”

Arkansas native Bill Whitworth, legendary editor, dies at 87

William Alvin “Bill” Whitworth, editor emeritus of The Atlantic Monthly, died on March 8 in Conway. He was 87.

A son of William Cecil Whitworth and Lois McNabb Whitworth, Whitworth was born

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in Hot Springs in 1937 and raised in Little Rock, attending the University of Oklahoma after his graduation from Central High School. While in college he served as editor of OU’s student newspaper, the Oklahoma Daily, and worked for the Arkansas Democrat. He started at the Arkansas Gazette in January 1960, where for three years he served as a general assignment reporter.

Whitworth joined the New York Herald Tribune in late 1963, where he shared feature-writing duties with such names as Tom Wolfe, Jimmy Breslin, and Charles Portis, covered city and national politics and traveled extensively to cover the beginnings of the student anti-war movement. Whitworth also covered Bobby Kennedy’s 1964 Senate race and the Beatles’ first two trips to the U.S.

He spent 14 years at The New Yorker, joining first as a staff writer in 1966, then in 1973

becoming an associate editor, editing a large share of the magazine’s main nonfiction pieces.

Whitworth joined The Atlantic in 1980, where he served as editor-in-chief for 20 years. While there he established “a reputation for timeliness, quality, and range which has made The Atlantic Monthly one of the most influential and well-read magazines in print.” Under his editorship, The Atlantic won nine National Magazine Awards, including the 1993 citation for general excellence. He returned to Arkansas in 2000, retaining the title of editor emeritus of the magazine.

Whitworth was predeceased by his wife of 36 years, Carolyn Hubbard Whitworth, and a son, Matthew Whitworth. He is survived by a daughter, Katherine W. Stewart, half brother F. Brooks Whitworth and half sister Sharon Persichitte.

The Arkansas Newspaper Connection is a weekly newsletter published by APA connecting freelance and independent writers, editors, photographers and designers with Arkansas newspapers in need. Lists available job openings and other opportunities at Arkansas newspapers and associate member organizations.

Send your listings to info@arkansaspress.org

Hunter Field

Courier editor’s debut novel published

Russellville Courier editor Travis Simpson’s debut novel, “Strong Like You”, was released on Tuesday, March 12, from North Star Editions.

The story follows 15-year-old linebacker Walker Lauderdale on a desperate search across the Ozarks for his missing father, the man who, for better or worse, taught him everything he knows about strength.

The book is aimed at the 13-to-15-year-old age group, especially boys, who are often too old for middle grade books but not yet mature enough for other YA and adult novels.

Kirkus Reviews called the book, “A grim but not entirely hopeless picture of life in the Ozarks, threaded with tragedies both immediate and endemic.” Anthony-nominated author Kelly J. Ford said, “Simpson offers an unflinching yet hopeful tale of hard-knock youth driven to the edge by their inherited and tragic lessons of what makes a man.”

Simpson will be reading from “Strong Like You” at the following Arkansas locations:

• March 15, Pettaway Coffee with Paper Heart Books, Little Rock, 6:30 p.m.

• March 16, Pope County Library, Russellville, noon

• March 18, Johnson County Library, Clarksville, 4 p.m.

• March 21, Black Ribbon Books, Hot Springs, 6 p.m.

• April 4, Two Friends Bookstore + Cafe, Bentonville, 6 p.m.

• April 7, Dog Ear Books, Russellville, 6 p.m.

• May 18, Bookish: An Indie Shop For Folks Who Read, Fort Smith, 12:30 p.m.

Simpson’s second book, “Cope Field”, is expected to be released in the Spring of 2025.

Nominations open for “Editors Extraordinaire” Class of 2024

Editor & Publisher magazine is seeking to recognize outstanding editors for its upcoming “Editors Extraordinaire” feature in May.

“It’s easy to recognize those who run the news media company or write award-winning articles, but there are those behind the scenes whose contributions are immeasurable,” said E&P in an article about the feature.

“In newsrooms across the country, editors bear heavy responsibilities — leading the newsroom, determining what stories should be told and who is best positioned to tell them, challenging assertions, developing talent, elevating journalism — all while maintaining an unwavering commitment to the public’s interest. Their names may not always be as familiar as bylined reporters or celebrated columnists, but their insight, experience and leadership are indispensable.”

Nominate your top editor by Friday, March 29 at editorandpublisher.com/stories/nominate-your-pick-for-epseditors-extraordinaire,242533

Citizens in a democracy have a right to know what their government is doing on their behalf. Whether the government is local, state or federal, public business is, as they say, the public’s business. As citizens, we have every right to know about the elected officials who are minding our state and federal government, as well as the legislation they sponsor and pass. Sunshine Week celebrated this week (March 10-16, 2024) is an annual reminder and appreciation of the importance of public records and open government.

Unbeknownst to many citizens, the Arkansas Press Association works tirelessly on their behalf to ensure that governmental transparency remains intact. In nearly every legislative session, there is some attack to gut the Freedom of Information Act. In fact, the public’s tax dollars are often used by officials to pay private entities or lobbyists to advocate against transparency rights to benefit bureaucrats and keep citizens in the dark. Attempts to suppress public information should raise a flagrant red flag.

Citizens are entitled to know all the facts concerning what their government is doing as it affects them, to see the records that reflect those actions and the data and documents produced.

Arkansas Citizens for Transparency, a broad coalition, has banded together to take the bull by the horns in a nonpartisan belief in the importance of government transparency. The group is working to get the signatures required to get their transparency amendment on the November ballot that could enshrine Freedom of Information Act rights in the state constitution.

We must never forget that the Freedom of Information Act is a people’s act. Government transparency means more than having access to public records. It also

Guest Column: Shining a light on the public’s business . . .

By Pam Lowe

entails accessibility to public officials. Voters do not elect politicians in order for them to hide behind a curtain of spokespeople or to avoid public scrutiny as if they were “The great and powerful Oz”. They also do not cast their precious vote to support lawmakers who spurn their responsibilities to their constituents and present thousands of bills written by think tanks, corporations and groups with their own agendas. Even an elementary student recognizes that it is wrong to sign their name to someone else’s work. In fact, if caught, it’s called cheating and they are punished for it. Citizens expect lawmakers to author bills that protect them

and reflect their interests. It is alarming to anyone who cherishes the democratic process, to observe it being farmed out to special interests.

FOIA is a tool given to citizens by law in order to hold their government accountable. The news industry uses them regularly, but the public can make information requests as well. The Supreme Court has determined that when documents are within FOIA’s disclosure provisions, citizens should not be required to explain why they seek the information. The information belongs to citizens to do with as they choose. The law allows people to request records from the federal government and compelled federal agencies to supply them. Each state also has its own public access laws that should be consulted for access to state and local records.

Whether you’re a journalist, activist, researcher or John Q. Public who wants to know more about the government or its actions, you can submit a request under FOIA. The United States Department of Justice suggests that before making a request, first see if the information is already publicly available. Go to www. foia.gov, which makes the process easy to understand. Citizens can find a lot of useful information on individual agency websites and they can also search across the government for information. If the information you want is not publicly available, you can submit a FOIA request.

It is important to remember that your local newspapers are vital to shining a light on the public’s business for its readers. Readers of my column are reading a newspaper owned by CherryRoad Media, a publication house with a mission to save local journalism. It cannot do it alone by simply purchasing newspapers. It requires a relationship with readers, particularly, subscribers and advertisers. In essence, to save a newspaper is to help save democracy, while supporting government transparency for the people. At a time when dark forces are at work, transparency is needed to maintain faith, confidence and to enable an open dialogue between citizens and their government. And your newspaper connects you to the actions and workings within your local, state and federal government.

To celebrate Sunshine Week, support your community newspaper and bask in the knowledge that you participated in the advancement of liberty and informed citizenry.

Pam Lowe is the editor of the Clay County Courier and may be reached at plowe@ cherryroad.com. This column is an edited version of one originally published on March 13, 2024. Reprinted with permission.