OU: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Stephens Northwest Merger Moving Forward

Christopher Spencer’s Ozarks Unbound reports that the merger between the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and Stephens Media’s northwest Arkansas operations is moving forward, with newspaper employees interviewing for their old jobs this week:
Staff with The Morning News of Northwest Arkansas, the Northwest Arkansas Times and the Benton County Daily Record were told they must re-apply for their [...]

‘Caught on Tape,’ In This Week’s Arkansas Business

This week’s Arkansas Business, available now. Among the highlights:
Haven’t you heard? Today’s the lottery! Let’s all go buy a ticket and become millionaires! Before that, though, read George Waldon’s story on all the security surrounding the lottery and the insane levels of security on each of its tickets.
And speaking of security, businesses are using fancier [...]

Molding Young Minds at UALR High School Journalism Day

Much thanks to the Sonny Rhodes and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock for inviting me to speak during two sessions of UALR’s annual Journalism Day event, which took place Thursday.
Andrew DeMillo of The Associated Press gave the event’s keynote address on “Why Journalism Matters,” and other session leaders included Frank Fellone of the [...]

The Friday Week in Review: You Lie! Edition

It’s Friday, and time for another long look back at a brutal week in politics, sports and the Web. We’re going to try for a reasoned, respectful debate here, so no shouting! But feel free to call us out in comments if we start going on about death panels. Remember: There remains some significant details [...]

Is Print Hot Again? BusinessWeek, Chicago Sun-Times Have Bidders

Did you know that instead of reading constantly updated breaking news online, you can also access a summary of yesterday’s news in physical, printed format? There are several types of “print,” including things called “magazines” and “newspapers.” Several are for sale, including one here in Arkansas. But so far, not many folks want to buy [...]

Friday Week In Review: Who Will Wear the Crown? Edition

Now that the Great Northwest Arkansas Newspaper War is settled, we can move on to other, more important forms of media self-destruction, like giving away all our online content for free!
Here now, at no extra charge, is a loving look back at the Week The Way It Was, Not Necessarily How We’d Like It To [...]

The Morning After: Merry Christmas, Newspaper War Is Over

A round-up of Day Two coverage of the end of the Northwest Arkansas Newspaper War, such as it was.
Michael Tilley’s City Wire has details on the board that will control Northwest Arkansas Newspapers LLC, saying that the Stephens Media gets 2 seats on a five seat board, which of course means, “Walter wins!” Also: The [...]

Implications, Random Thoughts on the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Stephens Media Joint Venture

The plan for a joint venture announced today between the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and Stephens Media in northwest Arkansas raises all kinds of questions, many of which we hope to answer in our continuing coverage this afternoon on ArkansasBusiness.com.
Among the many points to ponder should the joint venture deal go through:
Staffing: What does this portend for [...]

Frank Robins III, Former Owner and Publisher of the Log Cabin Democrat

Frank Robins III, the former publisher of the Log Cabin Democrat, died on Saturday at the age of 80. You can read his obituary on the Web site of the newspaper he once owned here. The newspaper’s article on Robins appears here.
Robins was my wife Laura’s uncle. I didn’t get to spend much time with [...]

LT, On Your TV and Radio Dials This Weekend

No rest for the narcissistic! Not content with the Internet, we’re also on the airwaves this weekend, aiming for Paris Hilton levels of overexposure. To wit:
Arkansas Week, 8:30 p.m. Friday, AETN – Catch myself, host Steve Barnes and Hoyt Purvis of the University of Arkansas as we tag-n-bag the week in business and politics. Tonight’s [...]