Arkansas Publisher Weekly: June 29, 2023

Full slate of activities, events planned for 2023 APA Convention

Guest Column:

By Rick Kennedy

Investigative reporter and columnist to receive Golden 50 Service Award after career spent covering the disenfranchised

Few Arkansas journalists have experienced a career as dynamic and impactful as Mike Masterson.

That career often involved critical (and even dangerous) work, providing a voice for the underdog and the unrepresented or uncovering information that resulted in the freeing of persons imprisoned for crimes they didn’t commit. That type of investigative work, unfortunately, has often been rare, at least partly because only a limited number of journalists possess the professional drive and, in essence, courage to make it happen.

Masterson’s lifetime record of service in newspapers appropriately will be honored with the Golden 50 Service Award at the Arkansas Press Freedom Gala on Oct. 12 in Little Rock.

A native of Harrison and a current resident, Masterson entered the University of Central Arkansas after studying for two years at the University of New Mexico under Western newspaperman and novelist Tony Hillerman and enlisting in the U.S. Coast Guard.

“That’s where my life changed forever after meeting journalism professor J. Dean Duncan, who had been a reporter for the Louisville Courier-Journal,” Masterson said.

“He would become my beloved mentor and inspiration for what’s become my career.”

While at UCA, Masterson became the editor of the student newspaper, The Echo, and was elected summer student Senate President. He and his first wife, Kathleen, lived in student housing and welcomed their son, Brandon, during that period. Masterson graduated in 1971 with a bachelor of arts in journalism. He also spent four years of summer active duty and monthly meetings in

the Coast Guard and was honorably discharged in 1972. Masterson’s first newspaper job was with the Newport Daily Independent, owned by Orville and Betty Richolson. Even in his earliest days in the industry, a pattern was established as he won a National Headliner Award for local reporting as well as recognition from the Robert F. Kennedy Awards for writing about problems facing the disadvantaged.

A fateful meeting occurred for Masterson in 1973, when he had lunch with Walter E. Hussman, Jr. at the Arlington Hotel in Hot Springs. They were both 26 at the time. Hussman offered him a position at the Sentinel-Record, first as a special writer and then, within months, as editor of the newspaper. He would remain in Hot Springs for seven years, but the Masterson-Hussman connection importantly would be renewed several more times in the future.

“I recall telling my staff of 12, all older than me, the paper had been sleeping for far too long and we were committing to begin telling the truth fairly and objectively regardless of whose doorstep it crossed,” Masterson said. “And they responded in a big way.

“We covered everything from a local hospital turning away indigent mothers in labor, to a downtown bar making book illegally, to the sheriff taking prisoners out of jail and escorting them to their homes on weekends without the judge knowing, to a former sheriff taking bribes to allow illegal cockfighting on a county farm during his tenure, to a local circuit judge who was a slumlord, to freeing an innocent Black masoner from jail, to a 20page special section detailing children of poverty in the land of opportunity.”

Glad to have made it another year...

Mike Masterson

Masterson

Continued from page 1

In recognition of that work, Masterson received the Robert F. Kennedy bust in Washington for best reporting in the country on problems of the disadvantaged.

“All of this hadn’t come without threats to the reporters,” Masterson said, “which prompted me to do something admittedly over the top when I borrowed a page from Buford Pusser’s story and had bat-sized poles cut and inscribed, ‘For self-protection while telling it like it is.’ Then I handed one to each staffer. I was proud of them and concerned for their welfare after the dedication they had shown toward telling the truth.”

Masterson’s journalism career turned a remarkable page when, in 1975, he received an Alicia Patterson Fellowship, enabling him to spend two years traveling America in a motorhome with his family and writing about the people “beside the highways” and their mood during the nation’s Bicentennial Year. Some 33 daily newspapers carried those accounts weekly in a column form.

His daughter Anna was born in 1977, and three years later the Los Angeles Times offered a reporting position in San Diego. “I knew if I passed it up, that opportunity to enter the world of big-time journalism likely would never come again,” Masterson said. Working alongside a dozen top-flight journalists helped him mature and become seasoned in several ways. And he did cover numerous significant stories, including finding evidence that a 21-year-old man who had escaped prosecution for homicide was indeed guilty. He was charged and convicted, leading staff at the paper to comment, “’you’d better watch yourself when he gets out.’”

Masterson quickly tired of the longerform feature style of the Times and was ready for a change when an offer came from the Chicago Sun-Times. “The paper had an international reputation for first rate investigative reporting,” Masterson said in explaining his decision to move.

“Knowing I was in a busy newsroom where six Pulitzer Prize winners worked, I had to begin quickly earning my chops,” Masterson said.

“That first week I turned a page six blurb about a young Black man hanging himself with his shoelaces in a precinct lockup the night before into a major story about more young Black men dying in Chicago’s precinct cells in the past year than the combined total of LA and New York,” Masterson said.

He stayed with that story until the FBI became involved and the Chicago Police Department announced significant reforms.

Masterson was involved in numerous other investigative articles at the Sun-Times, including the misuse of allocated Medicaid funds by the State of Illinois.

The Chicago newspaper was sold to Rupert Murdoch and talented journalists began leaving the staff, resulting in Masterson’s uncertainty as to his future journalism path.

“Once again, Walter Hussman appeared in my career (as he has through today) and offered me the chance to return to Arkansas and work for him doing investigative reporting for his then Arkansas Democrat and other WEHCO Media papers across Southern Arkansas,” Masterson said.

“So, I went home. It was 1982. I was 11 years out of college.”

Right away, Masterson began reporting on what was one of the defining stories of his long career.

His research uncovered evidence that led to the exoneration of Ronald Carden, who had been convicted of murdering a still-unidentified Jane Doe. He was awaiting sentencing when Masterson’s story broke in the Democrat

Then Pulaski County Sheriff Tommy Robinson contacted Masterson about the impending story and warned him not to publish it. Masterson said Robinson told him, “‘If you do, you’ll be going out on a limb so far, it’ll break off behind you.’”

Masterson was confident in his evidence and replied, “well, Sheriff, you do what you’ve got to do, and I’ll do what I’ve got to do.” Three weeks later, Carden was a free man.

Dennis Montgomery, Associated Press Bureau Chief at the time, See Masterson Page 3

Masterson in the early days of his career

Masterson

Continued from page 2

wrote in a letter to Walter Hussman concerning Masterson’s Ronald Carden articles:

“That the press is the palladium of our liberties is something which could be demonstrated in no manner more profound than by Masterson’s unflagging determination to see justice done for an innocent man.”

Montgomery then added:

“That Masterson, on the strength of his reportorial skills and his dedication to his craft was able to undo an error of the law and win a citizen his freedom, is a monument to and example for journalists everywhere. But the credit is due, too, to the news organization which provided a man of Masterson’s stature the opportunity, and then the resources, to practice his considerable talents.”

Masterson was involved in numerous other investigative articles during that period at the Democrat. One series led to an unprecedented third trial for convicted “cop killer” James Dean Walker, who at one point had been within six days of the electric chair at Cummins Prison.

“Walker accepted an odd plea deal of sorts to gain his freedom when the prosecutor asked him to plead guilty by admitting had he not been on the highway that night, the patrolman would not have been killed,” Masterson said.

Walker served more than 20 years in prison before his release. He died earlier this year in his hometown of Boise, Idaho.

Among other topics, Masterson wrote a series of articles on school bus safety issues and the Faulkner County jail cell death of U.S. Army veteran Marvin Williams of Menifee.

Masterson’s next stop was the Arizona Republic in Phoenix, where he and a staff of three were assigned the task of restoring the investigative reporting legacy of journalist Don Bolles, who had been murdered in a car bombing 10 years earlier. While there, he worked on a story about developmentally disabled Native American women being injected without their consent with a drug for contraception known to cause cancer in lab animals.

“My team and I then spent two months investigating how Native Americans had been cheated and abused on almost every level, from slant drilling on their lands, to poor education, rampant alcoholism and teen pregnancies, as well as substandard health care, crime and cultural matters,” Masterson said.

The 28-page insert led to Senate hearings. It received the George Polk Award and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in national reporting in 1988.

The following year the staff again was a Pulitzer finalist for a special report on the widespread negative effect of dosing drugs such as Haldol in nursing home residents who ordinarily would be alert and inquisitive.

Masterson then entered the academic world with an exciting position in an endowed chair at The Ohio State School of Journalism to head the graduate school’s Kiplinger Public Affairs Reporting Fellowship Program. The program was designed for up to 10 students annually.

“I had always seen myself in a classroom at some point and now, some 19 years from Newport, I knew this was meant to be,” Masterson said. The program was limited to five years and Masterson enjoyed weekly seminars with nearly 50 of the “best and brightest print and broadcast journalists from around the world.”

From there he became editor of the investigations department of The Asbury Press in New Jersey, where he did a series on “Dying in Custody,” detailing the absence of federal agency review of the deaths of incarcerated people.

He eventually testified in Washington, D.C., on the issue, leading to the Dying in Custody Act, a federal reporting law in lockups and jails across the country.

“By now I was missing my native state a lot,” Masterson said. “Living in New Jersey will do that to people. So, within a few months I had returned, this time as executive editor of the Northwest Arkansas Times in Fayetteville. That lasted five years working with supportive publishers Randy Cope and Jeff Jeffus. I also began a regular Sunday column.”

See Masterson Page 4

Masterson with his wife, Jeanetta

Two National Headliner Awards

Three Heywood Broun Awards

Four Robert F. Kennedy Awards

Four Paul Tobenkin Awards from Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University for “writing about the plights of the underdog.”

The IRE Award for newspapers of less than 75,000 circulation

The IRE Gold Medallion for Best Investigative Reporting in the United States

The Will Rogers Humanitarian Award from National Society of Newspaper Columnists for body of work

The National Association of Black Journalists

First Place Award for “Best reporting on the Black condition.”

The Congress of American Indians Congressional Achievement Award for “Excellence in the pursuit of truth and awakening the world to the excesses of the BIA.”

Three Certificates of Merit from American Bar Association’s Silver Gavel Awards

Finalist for Pulitzer Prize, 1988

Finalist for Pulitzer Prize, 1989

Finalist to become First Journalist in Space

The National Conference of Christians and Jews Mass Media Gold Medallion for “outstanding contributions to human relations and the the cause of brotherhood”, 1974

Masterson

Continued from page 3

And then once again, Walter Hussman entered the scene. In 2000 he offered Masterson a columnist position originating from Northwest Arkansas for the Arkansas-Democrat Gazette. “And so began the past 23 years under my name on the Voices Page,” Masterson said. He writes three personal-opinion columns a week.

“The column has given me the opportunity to explore so many issues close to my heart like our all-important Freedom of Information Act, injustice, dangers we face and preserving our magnificent streams,” Masterson said. “And I value every reader.”

Masterson has received more than two dozen major journalism awards in his 52-year career, many of them related to his fierce advocacy for the downtrodden and disadvantaged. The highlights, as noted, were the two occasions he was a Pulitzer Prize finalist.

Masterson was born in 1946 in Harrison, the son of Lt. Col. Rue B. Masterson and the former Helen Elaine Hammerschmidt (sister of the late U.S. Rep. John Paul Hammerschmidt).

His wife is Jeanetta Riddle McCroskey, also a native of Harrison. She has four children and he has two, along with 11 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. “I consider Jeanetta my loving partner and greatest supporter,” Masterson said.

Masterson’s military family traveled a lot from one base to another, including two years in Okinawa. When his father retired, the family moved back to Harrison, where Masterson spent his ninth and 10th grade years. His father then bought a business in Albuquerque, where he finished high school in 1965.

Who in Arkansas would be more qualified to give advice to young journalists intent on pursuing hard-hitting and truthful investigative work?

“Always fight and speak for what you know is right,” Masterson said. “Follow and trust your instincts regardless of what others might say. If you feel something isn’t quite right, pursue that feeling. It’s present for a reason.

“Always be assertive but never uncivil or rude. Don’t be reluctant to ask tough questions even if you feel the person will resent you for asking. Remain persistent. You now have a critical role to play in the people’s right to know.

“The bedrock of what we do is access to relevant information we can share always in the public interest. Our FOIA provides legal standing to gain that information, so be sure to use – and defend – it mightily.”

Any

US KNOW

MASTERSON’S DEDICATION TO INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING OVER HIS CAREER RESULTED IN NUMEROUS NATIONAL AWARDS, INCLUDING THE FOLLOWING:

Full slate of activities, events planned for 2023 APA Convention

Make plans now to attend the 2023 APA Convention, being held July 20-22 in Little Rock.

Convention events kick off on Thursday evening with a cocktail hour and hors d’oeuvres reception at the Arkansas Press Association Headquarters, followed by dinner at Cotham’s in the City restaurant and live music from duo Brooke & Mike.

Friday brings a full day for convention attendees, starting with a breakfast social featuring an omelet station at 8:30 a.m. and the opening of the Trade Show & Arkansas Newspaper Foundation Silent Auction.

Sessions start at 9:30 with Bridget Sibthorp-Moecker of BLOX Digital presenting “The Trailblazer’s Guide to Digital Subscriptions: Mapping a Path to Success.” Following a break for mimosas and snacks in the Trade Show area, Preston Tolliver and Katie Leath of UAMS will present the second session of the day, “Improving Healthcare in Arkansas Through Media & Medicine.”

The keynote speaker at the noon luncheon is Janet Harris, Executive Director/CEO of the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute.

Sessions resume at 2 p.m. with “Photojournalism via Smartphone” presented by Mark Humphrey of the Associated Press. A 3:30 pm panel discussion, “Maximizing Operational Efficiencies” featuring panelists Tom White, Rusty Fraser, Jim Holland and Rhonda Overbey and moderated by Lori Freeze will follow.

The Honorees’ Reception featuring Arkansas Symphony Orchestra Harpist Alisa Coffey will start at 6 p.m. followed by the Arkansas Press Association Honors Banquet and the installation of Eliza Gaines as APA President at 7 p.m.

On Saturday, July 22, the registration desk will open at 8 a.m. and the APA Member Business Meeting and Breakfast will be held at 8:30. At 9 a.m. there will be a panel discussion, “Breaking Stories Using FOIA” featuring panelists Tamara Johnson, Ellen Kreth, Andrew Bagley and Chris Fulton and moderated by Sonny Albarado.

Following a short break, there will be another panel discussion on investigative reporting, featuring panelists Hunter Field, Tony Holt and Rick Kron and again moderated by Albarado.

Convention activities will conclude at noon with the Arkansas Press Association Better Newspaper Editorial Awards Luncheon.

1873 - 2023

Arkansas Press Association would like to thank the convention Headliner Sponsor:

Borkowski joins staff at Carroll County News

Julia Borkowski has joined the staff of Carroll County Community Media as an online engagement editor, the newspaper announced on June 20.

Borkowski is responsible for maintaining the websites and social media for the Carroll County News, the Eureka Springs Times-Echo and The Eureka Springs Visitor, a monthly magazine.

“I’m thrilled to have Julia’s help with our online presence,” said Scott Loftis, publisher and editor of the three publications. “She is very technically savvy and she has so much energy. Her work ethic is just outstanding.”

Borkowski is the owner of Berryville Onstage Rehearsal Konnection and JB Talent Konnections. She has been acting and modeling for more than 10 years and has worked on film sets, runway shows and assisted in casting for television shows, movies and commercials.

Harrison Daily Times “woof-reader” featured as “News Pet” by E&P

Jet, the Harrison Daily Times “woofreader” owned by Community Editor Terri Smith, has been selected as one of Editor & Publisher magazine’s “News Pets” to be featured on the E&P website.

“Jet has always been supportive of local newspapers,” Smith said of the dog, a former stray whom she rescued. “She loves to fetch the weekend delivery and bring it into the house for me. She loves to come ride with me on trips to some of the remote areas that we cover.”

Jet takes her duties at the Times seriously.

“Occasionally, she gets to come to the office and takes care of any crumbs

that might be under the desks. She will also let out a loud groan if I sit at the computer for too long, reminding me to get up, stretch my legs, and throw the ball. Jet has a talent for finding the person who needs a little love and giving them a paw-shake and kisses.”

Jet has also made appearances in the newspaper to help announce area spay/neuter and vaccination clinics.

If your publication has a “News Pet”, submissions can be made at https:// www.editorandpublisher.com/ eandpnewspets/index.html. Pets selected by E&P to be featured will receive a one-year subscription to the monthly magazine’s print edition.

Minneapolis newspaper offers class of 2023 free one-year digital subscriptions; response exceeds expectations

This year the Star Tribune in Minneapolis, Minnesota’s largest newspaper, offered an unusual gift to the state’s entire graduating high school Class of 2023: a free, one-year digital subscription.

The initiative, which was first announced in late April, is the latest expansion of the Star Tribune’s News in Education program. Just before the 2020 presidential election, the newspaper expanded NIE to offer free digital subscriptions to all Minnesota school districts with the goal of strengthening news literacy through access. Since then, 287 educational institutions have signed up for that program.

Star-Tribune Education Audience Development Manager Ken Lawrence said that the graduation offer supports both the Tribune’s journalistic mission and its digital growth goals. The newspaper set 200 graduating seniors

as an “original modest benchmark” for signups but has already surpassed 250.

Graduates can sign up in a simple Google form, and do not have to provide payment information — just their names, high school and personal email addresses, the high school they’re graduating from, and their ZIP code. “We know young people can be hesitant to make long-term commitments and to provide payment information. Signing up for a free subscription is the kind of ‘micro-commitment’ research shows young people are more inclined to make,” said Lawrence, who also noted that many young people lack the means to pay for a news subscription.

“In addition to aligning with our journalistic mission, this program supports our goal, we hope, of demonstrating the importance of Star Tribune, which will lead to more people making the choice for the Star Tribune — to make it part of their day, and part of how they understand and engage with their community,” he said.

May 31 proved to be more than just the end of the month as I found myself with a crushing feeling in my chest and tingling in my left arm.

The pain, which didn’t go away for an hour, was recognizable to me. I was having a heart attack, and I was rushed to our local hospital, Helena Regional Medical Center.

The good folks at HRMC stabilized me, likely saving my life in the process, but almost immediately, I was placed on a helicopter and 25 minutes later, found myself at Methodist Hospital in Germantown in Memphis, Tennessee.

The Cardiac Care Unit there would be my home for several days until June 15, ironically my 59th birthday, when I was released to return home to Arkansas.

A regular regiment of eight medications taken at all hours of the day and night, but here I am, alive another day, and able to write this column.

As news spread of my episode, I was grateful to learn of all the thoughts,

Guest Column: Glad to have made it another year...

By Rick Kennedy Managing Editor, Helena Daily World

prayers, messages, and well-wishes that I received from friends and colleagues throughout the state and the country.

I am fortunate to have made many friends in and out of the media industry, which I have been a part of for 38 years now.

Of course, I am thankful to have additional days, and I want to take this opportunity to sincerely thank everyone for extending their concern for me and my family.

Elijah Mondy and his wife Belinda were my first in-person visitors, and they also provided my ride home.

Of course, Andrew Bagley came to visit me in Memphis, too, and he was in daily contact while I was away.

Through his efforts along with that of Monticello designer Kristie Nall, the important work of the Helena World and Monroe County Argus continued in my absence. My special thanks to both of them in keeping things going.

I had also received a couple of calls of encouragement from Helena Mayor

Christopher Franklin, who despite all the challenges he is having in city government found the time to call me and wish me well.

There was also a call from our Arkansas Press Association director Ashley Kemp Wimberley, who wished me a full recovery.

Too many to mention on Facebook sent their concern and well wishes. Longtime friends and colleagues like Jennifer Allen, Michael Jones and Otis Kirk to newer friends like Anne Christine Fuller, Martin Rawls, Philly Rains, and Terri Ann Hall.

Apparently, the good Lord was willing to grant me a bit more time on this Earth.

This column was originally published in The Helena World on June 28. Reprinted with permission.

Arkansas Press Association Convention

DoubleTree Hotel | July 20 – 22, 2023

THURSDAY, JULY 20

Noon Arkansas Press Association Board of Directors Luncheon & Meeting

5 pm Cocktail Hour & Hors D’oeuvres at the Arkansas Press Association Headquarters

7 pm – 10 pm Dinner at Cotham’s in the City & Live Music with Brooke & Mike

FRIDAY, JULY 21

8:30 am Breakfast Social with Omelet Station

Trade Show & Arkansas Newspaper Foundation Silent Auction Open

9:30 am Session: The Trailblazer’s Guide to Digital Subscriptions: Mapping a Path to Success

Presenter: Bridget Sibthorp-Moecker, BLOX Digital

10:30 am Mimosa Break in the Trade Show

10:45 am Session: Improving Healthcare in Arkansas Through Media & Medicine

Presenters: Preston Tolliver & Katie Leath, UAMS

11:45 am Break in the Trade Show

Noon Luncheon

Keynote Speaker: Janet Harris, Executive Director/CEO of the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute

2 pm Session: Photojournalism via Smartphone

3:30 pm

Presenter: Mark Humphrey, Associated Press

Panel Discussion: Maximizing Operational Efficiencies

Moderated by: Lori Freeze

Panelist: Tom White, Rusty Fraser, Jim Holland, Rhonda Overbey

4:30 pm Cookie Break in the Trade Show

5 pm Trade Show Closes

6 pm Honorees’ Reception

Featuring Arkansas Symphony Orchestra Harpist Alisa Coffey

7 pm Arkansas Press Association Honors Banquet

• Past Presidents’ Gavel Passing

• Installation of Eliza Hussman Gaines as President

• Presentation of Journalism Educator of the Year Award

• Presentation of Golden 50 Service Awards

SATURDAY, JULY 22

8 am Registration Opens

APA Past Presidents’ Breakfast (Invitation Only)

8:30 am APA Member Business Meeting & Breakfast

9 am

Panel Discussion: Breaking Stories Using FOIA

Moderated by: Sonny Albarado

Panelists: Tamara Johnson, Ellen Kreth, Andrew Bagley, Chris Fulton

10:15 am Break

10:30 am

Panel Discussion: Investigative Reporting

Moderated by: Sonny Albarado

Panelists: Hunter Field, Tony Holt, Rick Kron

Noon Arkansas Press Association Better Newspaper Editorial Awards Luncheon

DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Little Rock Room block open for reservations

2023 APA Convention Registration Form

Deadline to register is July 17th

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