Keith

Continued from page 3 example, the only newspaper in Ann Arbor, Mich., is the student publication at the University of Michigan. As for-profit community publications continue to struggle across the country, he anticipates student newspapers potentially stepping up to help fill the void.

The Echo increasingly focuses on stories and issues in the broader Conway community, Dr. Keith said. “Obviously, the industry has changed exponentially, and it is going to continue to change,” Dr. Keith said. “But there will always be the need to provide information from credible sources. Our job is to find ways to provide accurate, verifiable and unbiased information.”

He encourages students to read and watch a variety of news sources to help them develop a balanced perspective.

“If you can show readers that you are providing credible information, then hopefully you will be able to grow your audience,” Dr. Keith tells his students.

For some 25 years, Dr. Keith was in the middle of the arena of community journalism, evolving from recognition at an early age that he wanted to be a writer.

A native of Malvern, as an eighth grader he unexpectedly found himself in a journalism class when the school decided to drop a study hall. At first, he was not a happy student, complaining that he “got stuck in a journalism class.” But it was there that his love of writing emerged, eventually leading him to Arkansas State University and its well-respected journalism department. He was on the staff of The Herald student newspaper and spent two summers as an intern at the Malvern Daily Record, working with well-known newspapermen Bill McKelvey, Bill Whitehead and Mike McNeill.

He graduated from ASU with a journalism degree in 1981 and began working at the Jonesboro Sun, then published by John Trout, Jr. He was a general assignment reporter and additionally developed a niche in covering city utility issues.

“I always said I would never date anyone I worked with,” Dr. Keith said. That vow went by the wayside when he met his future wife

Tammy while working on the staff with her at The Sun. “Our desks were separated by a trash can,” he said with a laugh. They met in 1984 and were married three years later.

Dr. Keith said his avenue for advancement was limited at The Sun since the owner’s two sons were involved in the publication. That led to an open discussion with Trout, and the publisher was helpful in suggesting potential opportunities across the state for the young journalist.

“One of the places he recommended was the Log Cabin Democrat in Conway,” Dr. Keith said.

Eventually he and Tammy were hired at the newspaper in 1990. His beats were city government and utilities, and she focused on education meetings and issues.

Working under publisher Frank Robins, Dr. Keith became city editor in 1992. The newspaper was sold a couple of years later to Morris Communications, and Mike Hengel was named publisher. “I really learned a lot about the newspaper industry from Mike,” Dr. Keith said. He was promoted to managing editor in 1994 and stayed at the publication until the defining decision in 2005 to become a journalism educator. At that time, Tammy went to work at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, involved in the publication’s zoned editions. She retired from full-time journalism in 2019 but still does freelance work.

Dr. Keith was an award-winning reporter and editor during his lengthy newspaper career. In considering some of his most memorable stories to cover, he cited the Posse Comitatus incident in Lawrence County in 1983 while working at the Jonesboro Sun. Posse Comitatus founder Gordon Kahl was hiding at a house in Smithville (Lawrence County) after being involved in a shootout in North Dakota that left several lawmen dead.

With police officers surrounding the residence, Lawrence County Sheriff Harold Gene Matthews entered, and he and Kahl fired their weapons almost instantaneously. Kahl was killed instantly, and Sheriff Matthews suffered wounds which shortly led to his death. See Keith Page 5