Arkansas Publisher Weekly: May 23, 2024

Guest Column:

Debt of gratitude: Group founders protected FOIA

By Bruce Plopper

Arkansas Press Association Publisher Weekly

Vol.19 | No. 21 | Thursday, May 23, 2024 | Serving Press and State Since 1873

Local community coverage is first priority for Pea Ridge editor

Annette Beard, managing editor of The Times of Northeast Benton County in Pea Ridge, has some strong, and time-tested, views on how a smaller community newspaper differs from its larger counterparts.

“Every person has a unique story and value,” Beard said. “In larger communities and newspapers, people often attribute more value to wealthy or famous or popular people. In a small newspaper, we can tell the stories of each person and their contribution to the community.”

As an example, she recalls a recent situation in which she went to the local school to write a story about a teacher who was retiring after 32 years of service. That story turned out well, but the visit also uncovered the fact that one of the lunchroom workers also has been employed at the school for 32 years and the school registrar has been on the job for 37 years.

“The lady who has worked at the lunchroom all these years said there was ‘nothing special about me,’ but in my opinion these are the people that deserve recognition,” Beard said.

That prompted additional articles on those two veteran employees, and Beard said the response from readers was overwhelming, with each drawing about 150 comments on the newspaper’s Facebook page.

“Some of the most interesting people are the humble, the ‘little people,’ the too-oft unnoticed people who wouldn’t ordinarily make headlines. I love to tell their stories.”

Beard said the “lunchroom lady” originally started in the position because that ensured she would be off work when her children were out of school. “At 77 years of age, she’s still working. She initially demurred when asked to be interviewed, but acquiesced. Her story received many responses from readers, most of whom remembered her from their days at school many years ago.”

The belief that virtually everything in a small community potentially qualifies for coverage is the approach Beard has adopted in her 18 years of working at the newspaper.

Of course, this includes festivals, pageants, sports, honor rolls, city council meetings, police reports – all the traditional areas associated with small town journalism.

Annette Beard

Beard

Continued from page 1

“We just care about all the events in which our hometown people are involved,” Beard said. “We publish photographs of school events and sporting events and parents contact us wanting additional copies of newspapers when their children are featured. In a small newspaper, it’s not just the first-place varsity teams that receive recognition, but all the young athletes.”

The familiarity of small-town life can be both good and bad, in essence both sides of the coin – “the best thing is that everyone knows you and what you are doing, and the worst thing is that everyone knows you and what you are doing,” Beard said.

That personal aspect sometimes can be difficult, she noted. As an example, she remembers reporting several unfavorable items in a police report relating to a school counselor whom everyone in the community knew well. She received pressure from some at the school and friends in the community not to publish the information, but it was, of course, her duty as a journalist to do so. Beard’s point is that reporters in a smaller community sometimes face personal pressures and challenges on a level and nature different from their counterparts in larger arenas.

Beard believes strongly in the role of the newspaper as the Fourth Estate and its critical role as the watchdog for the community. “I believe public news should be public, and I endeavor to reveal, to share, to expose as much as possible of what is done by public officials with public funds,” she said.

reporters on sister publications.

The newspaper operates under the auspices of the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, and all advertising, business, circulation and production functions are handled by the parent company.

In earlier days she had a full-time clerk to help with such items as honor rolls, obituaries, club news and similar items. Beard now works out of her home following the closing of the newspaper office where the clerk was employed. “I will say having the clerk did make a big difference,” she said.

Beard is aware of the need to attract younger readers to the newspaper and, in keeping, she often speaks to classes at the local school. She also is focused on drawing readers to the newspaper through digital platforms and the use of more video features in her reporting.

As is the case with many journalists, it is the learning aspect of the profession that appeals to her more than any other. “I love to learn, and I love history,” she said. “And I have a particular fascination with older people. I am learning something new all the time. I guess you could say I am kind of a jack of all trades now. I might know a little bit about a lot of different things.”

Beard said when she first began at Pea Ridge, there was a stronger agricultural influence than at present. “In the early days I just didn’t know much about agriculture and farm life,” she said. “I am sure I probably asked a lot of stupid questions, but I was learning all the way. Over the years I am constantly finding new subjects that I want to learn about and write about.”

She really enjoys feature stories but has been limited in that area recently because of the time constraints related to her one-person staff status. The Times runs 12 pages each week and Beard provides all the content, apart from occasionally receiving help from sports

Beard grew up in Louisiana and earned a degree in English from what was then Northeast Louisiana University in Monroe.

“My parents wanted me to be a doctor, but I was an idealist, writing poetry and prose,” she said. “I’ve always loved writing, began reading very early and by third grade, was reading my aunt’s college books. I did write poetry when young but began working for a newspaper when in college. Writing is an outlet as well as an effective means of communication. With written journalism, I believe we can delve more deeply into subjects to better inform our readers of subjects that may affect their lives, such as local government decisions.”

That initial newspaper job was as a copy clerk at the Gannett daily in Monroe, then eventually working her way up to a reporter position.

Wanting to establish a more well-rounded core of experience, Beard replied to an ad in the Arkansas Press Association newsletter and became a reporter, columnist and photographer at the Benton County Daily Democrat in Bentonville in 1980. Her main beat was the city of Rogers, but she also had her first encounter with Pea Ridge when covering events in that smaller community.

Beard moved with her family to Piedmont, Missouri in 1988, but continued to write a column and do some freelance work for the Bentonville newspaper.

Later, as a single mom of nine children, she was looking for a job

See BEARD Page 3

Beard dances with her son, Sgt. Daniel Beard, at his wedding to Kennedy Hill of Jonesboro this past weekend.

Beard

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and received a call in 2006 from veteran newspaperman Kent Marts offering her a position as managing editor of the Pea Ridge newspaper. She has been there ever since.

Pea Ridge has seen dramatic growth due to its Benton County location in booming Northwest Arkansas and its proximity to Walmart headquarters. Its population was about 1,600 in 1990 and is nearing 7,000 today.

“When I first started covering Pea Ridge, the majority of people there had long-time roots in the community,” Beard said. “There is an entirely different demographic now.

“This used to be a bedroom community, but now there are a lot of new businesses, including three banks. This growth has come about because of all the people who work for Walmart and its suppliers. This is now a very welleducated and diverse community.”

The quality of Beard’s work has been welldocumented in APA editorial contests over the years. She has earned 45 first place individual awards over the past decade and multiple second and third place honors for news, feature and business articles, columns, editorials, photographs and layout design.

school superintendent Rick Neal. The organization offers food, clothing, shoes and even furniture to students and their families to ensure their success at school. Bright Futures also provides scholarships to students who perform volunteer work.

Beard has registered all of these accomplishments while raising six girls and three boys. Several of her children were homeschooled and others were educated while the family lived in Missouri, but the youngest four attended school in Pea Ridge. She also has 16 grandchildren with another on the way.

Amazingly, all nine children live within two hours of Pea Ridge and six are five miles or less from Beard’s house.

The Times has won first place in General Excellence five times, as well as several second and third place awards in the past 18 years.

Beard has been very involved in the community, moderating and hosting several candidate forums in Benton County, Pea Ridge and Garfield.

She has promoted and covered the annual Pea Ridge Mule Jump, attended by more than 2,000 people annually for the past 12 years. She also has promoted the annual Fourth of July Freedom Fest, as well as the annual Pea Ridge Fair and pageants.

Beard has served as president of the Pea Ridge Optimist Club, volunteered on the APA Better Newspaper Editorial Contest three times and has been a member of the board of directors of the Pea Ridge National Military Park Friends Foundation.

Perhaps her most rewarding civic endeavor was serving on the founding committee for Bright Futures, Pea Ridge. The organization was brought to Arkansas through the visionary efforts of Pea Ridge

Beard keeps four of the grandchildren at times after school and often takes them with her to cover various events in Pea Ridge.

She acknowledges the financial constraints of the contemporary newspaper industry have led to many changes, even for small community publications, such as the elimination of the news clerk in her particular situation. “We do not have a staff, and I often joke, when asked if I can send someone from my staff to cover an event –which one of my staff do you want, me, myself or I.

“My decision 44 years ago to begin working with the daily newspaper in Bentonville to work with a smaller paper in order to learn more facets of the trade, was answered in a way I could not have imagined then.

“Now I write about and photograph as much as possible in the community – police, fire, government, school, features, business. When in college, the newspaper for which I was a copy clerk had a police reporter, several photographers, a sportswriter, someone covered the school beat, the city beat – now, I do it all.”

She admits that her workload as the sole news gatherer for her community and its outlying area can sometimes lead to potential burnout and fatigue. “In essence, I am on call 24/7,” she said. “Not ever having a full week off can be tough, but I am learning how to at least take some time off.

“But I absolutely love what I do. I live, eat and breathe this newspaper,” Beard said. “God put me in this position, and He continues to be with me here. I have no plans at all to retire. I will be here as long as He allows it.”

Beard with Bull’s Eye the mule at last October’s Pea Ridge Mule Jump.

APA welcomes summer interns Zagari and Scott

APA welcomed summer interns Adelade Zagari and Ellis Scott to its offices this week.

Zagari is a rising junior at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro, where she is studying creative media production, with a minor in multimedia journalism. Scott is a rising junior at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, studying psychology and public health, with an interest in health marketing.

Both will be helping the association with media and marketing projects.

Room block now open for 2024 APA Convention

For the first time in the 151-year history of the association, APA is headed to Northeast Arkansas for its annual convention.

The special APA room block rates expire on June 8. Book your room today at this link: bit.ly/4bkcHy1 or call 870-619-4482.

ARKANSAS PRESS ASSOCIATION

2024 Convention Jonesboro

Thursday, June 27 - Saturday, June 29

Embassy Suites by Hilton Jonesboro Red Wolf Convention Center

Scan QR code or call 870-619-4482

Winners of 2024 APW

Professional Communications Contest announced May 18

Arkansas Press Women announced the winners of its annual Professional Communications Contest at an awards luncheon on Saturday, May 18 at The Villa Marre in Little Rock.

Staff from several APA member newspapers were honored at the awards, including Lara Farrar of Arkansas Business and Ellen Kreth of the Madison County Record in Huntsville.

Included among the winners from the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette are Terry Austin, David Barham, Bill Bowden, Kelly Brant, John Brummett, Sarah Campbell-Miller, Janet Carson, Sean Clancy, Stan Denman, Sarah Engebrecht, Gwen Faulkenberry, Joseph Flaherty, Aaron Gettinger, Brooke Greenberg, Jared Haas, Carrie Hill, Tony Holt, Cynthia Howell, Tristan Jackson, Grant Lancaster, Will Langhorne, Christina LaRue, Frank Lockwood, Brenda Looper, Philip Martin, Kyle McDaniel, Daniel McFadin, Thomas Metthe, Remington Miller, Colin Murphey, Tom Murphy, Rex Nelson, Joshua Snyder, Robert Steinbuch, Celia Storey, Stephen Swofford, Erick Taylor, Staci Vandagriff, Helaine Williams and Sheila Yount

For the third consecutive year, Dwain Hebda of Ya!Mule Wordsmiths, Inc., won the Sweepstakes Award in the Arkansas contest. The award is based on a point system that factors in entry ranking and the degree of competition in a category.

Arkansas Press Women is an association of professional communicators in journalism, public information, business, education and government. For the complete list of this year’s winners, visit arkansaspresswomen.org/apw-names-winners-of2024-communications-contest/

Ellis Scott and Adelade Zagari

Industry experts scheduled to speak at 2024 APA Convention

Four industry experts are set to share their expertise at next month’s APA Convention at the Red Wolf Convention Center in Jonesboro.

David Cuillier is the Director of the Brechner Freedom of Information Project at the College of Journalism and Communications, University of Florida. As director, Cuillier facilitates public engagement, research and operational collaborations, builds capacity and sustainability through fund-raising and grant requests, serves as an expert on matters of access to information and open government practices, and manages a team of collaborators. Previously, he was an associate professor and director of graduate studies at the University of Arizona School of Journalism. He started his career as a newspaper reporter and editor in the Pacific Northwest, covering local, state and federal government, before earning his doctorate in communication in 2006 at Washington State University. A leading authority on freedom of information, he also served as president of the National Freedom of Information Coalition. He is also co-author of “The Art of Access: Strategies for Acquiring Public Records” and “Transparency 2.0: Digital Data and Privacy in a Wired World.”

John Newby currently serves as chief revenue officer for Editor & Publisher magazine and the author of “Building Main Street, not Wall Street” a weekly

column appearing in 50 newspapers nationwide. He is also CEO of TrulyLocal, LLC and President and CEO of the McDonald County Chamber in Pineville, Missouri. Newby started his media career with the Omaha World-Herald, then later at the Ogden Standard-Examiner, Council Bluffs Daily Nonpareil and Logan Herald Journal. He served as publisher in Laporte, Indiana; Ottawa, Illinois and Muskogee, Oklahoma., founding several magazines along the way. His newspapers always exceeded industry expectations and led in innovation. He is the founder of the 360 Media Alliance, an organization with over 2,200 members, and the Mega Summit concept that has provided both print and digital audience innovation and revenue gatherings for the past 12 years.

industry, developing ground-breaking research and inspiring journalists on four continents. Slimp is the publisher and CEO at Market Square Publishing, and the founder of Newspaper Academy, and additionally he served 20 years as director of the University of Tenn Newspaper Institute, which developed programs and methods of improvement for newspapers across the United States and Canada.

Guy Tasaka is an accomplished media professional with a rich history in the evolution of digital publishing.

Kevin Slimp worked with the Adobe InDesign team while the application was being developed, and trained a group of 98 newspaper designers in Phoenix, Arizona the week InDesign hit the shelves. In the years since, he has come to be known to the newspaper industry as the guru of InDesign and Photoshop training, tips and tricks. In addition to technology, he has become a leading voice in the newspaper

Recognized as the 2015 Local Media Association’s Innovator of the Year, Tasaka stands out as an industry leader, particularly in mobile products, digital subscriptions, and connected television (CTV). As the CEO of Tasaka Digital, he has been at the forefront of developing digital content distribution strategies and innovative mobile publishing ecosystems. His columns in Editor & Publisher showcase his insights on emerging technologies and their impact on the media industry. Tasaka’s leadership roles at Calkins Media Incorporated and The New York Times reflect his ability to transform traditional media approaches into successful digital strategies.

The 2024 APA Convention will be held June 27-29 at the Red Wolf Convention Center in Jonesboro. The registration form can be found on page 7 of this week’s Arkansas Publisher Weekly.

Former Little Rock reporter and news anchor Stewart dies at 58

Former KARK-TV reporter and news anchor Alice Stewart, who worked as a Republican strategist and CNN political commentator after leaving the state, died Saturday, May 18, at her home in Alexandria, Virginia. She was 58.

A native of Atlanta, Georgia, Stewart held a degree in broadcast news and political science from the University of Georgia. She joined KARK in 1998 and served as a news reporter and weekend anchor until 2005, when she transitioned into politics with a job as press sec-

retary in then-Gov. Mike Huckabee’s administration. Stewart later worked as communications director for the presidential campaigns of Sen. Ted Cruz, Gov. Huckabee, Sen. Rick Santorum and Congresswoman Michele Bachmann

She was also a 2020 fellow at the Institute of Politics at the Harvard Kennedy School. A long-time conservative political commentator with CNN, her last appearance was on Friday, May 17 on “The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer.”

David Cuillier

John Newby

Kevin Slimp

Guy Tasaka

Alice Stewart

It would be a fairly safe bet that they’re all deceased now, even though some record verifying attendance at their first official meeting seems lost to history. They were the unofficial keepers of the freedom of information (FOI) flame in Arkansas, and they were known as the Arkansas FOI Coalition.

They were media-related leaders who began organized meetings sometime between 1984 and 1988, in the years just before and during Arkansas General Assembly sessions. The behind-the-scenes work they and their successors have done for more than 35 years is notable and unsung. So here’s the tune.

Their purpose was to protect the 1967 Arkansas Freedom of Information Act from proposed amendments that would dilute citizens’ rights to see what their government is doing. While the coalition founders had attended other hastily called FOI-related meetings before their formation as a standing coalition, there was nothing media leaders at the time had done to establish a path for proposed FOI amendments to be vetted.

At the invitation of former Arkansas Press Association (APA) Executive Director Dennis Schick, they met at the old headquarters of the APA on Broadway in Little Rock. In fact, the idea to call the group a coalition probably was Schick’s, as that was one of his “words.”

While the group was still meeting there in

Guest Column: Debt of gratitude: Group founders protected FOIA

By Bruce Plopper

January 1991, Arkansas Gazette Managing Editor Bill Rutherford invited me to join. Having moved to Arkansas in 1985 as a journalism professor, first at the University of Central Arkansas and then at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, I had heard of and even met some of the central Arkansas journalism leaders, but I still was somewhat awestruck when I attended my first coalition meeting.

Among others in attendance were Bob McCord of the Arkansas Gazette, who in 1968 had successfully sued the North Little Rock City Council and thereby won the first FOI case brought under the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act; Carol Griffee, fierce independent journalist who let nothing slip by her; Brenda Blagg, longtime FOI protector from the Springdale News; and Betty Magie, former APA president.

Also attending were Arkansas Democrat Associate Editor Meredith Oakley, who with her acerbic tongue was ready to crucify any lawmaker proposing to weaken the FOI law; Van Tyson, owner and publisher of The Atkins Chronicle; Milton Scott, newly hired APA lobbyist; and, of course, Rutherford and Schick.

As the years ticked by and the coalition in 2000 began meeting in the new APA building on Victory Street in Little Rock, in every legislative year a trail of lawmakers and governmental department representatives presented their proposed

changes at coalition meetings, allowing for constructive criticism and insights about those proposed changes.

Often, the coalition was able to convince the lawmakers either to pull their bills or to amend them to make them less damaging to the public’s right to know.

Membership in the coalition since 1991 has experienced an ebb and flow of journalism professors and law professors, journalists from various media outlets and even assistants to elected and appointed Arkansas governmental officials.

Recently, Arkansas has seen the creation of an FOIA working group to review the Arkansas FOIA, and both a constitutional amendment and a new statute have been proposed to strengthen the Arkansas FOI protections.

While these efforts may prove worthy, the coalition will still exist and its mission will remain the same. It will continue to work behind the scenes to ensure the right to know for Arkansas citizens.

Arkansas owes these coalition founders a great deal of gratitude.

Bruce Plopper is a journalism professor emeritus in the UALR School of Mass Communication. This column was originally published on March 14, 2024 in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Reprinted with permission.

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