Misplaced Pages

#225774

51-679: The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette is the newspaper of record in the U.S. state of Arkansas , printed in Little Rock with a northwest edition published in Lowell . It is distributed for sale in all 75 of Arkansas' counties. By virtue of one of its predecessors, the Arkansas Gazette (founded in 1819), it claims to be the oldest continuously published newspaper west of the Mississippi River . The original print shop of

102-595: A 75,000-man militia , much like Arkansas. In 1863, U.S. troops recaptured Little Rock, and the Gazette suspended publication until May 1865, while U.S. authorities used the presses for publications. During Reconstruction , a competitor arose by various names, under various editors, and with several different owners. In 1878, J.N. Smithee bought the newspaper, changed its name to the Arkansas Democrat , and went after lucrative state printing contracts held by

153-575: A Speed Graphic camera for Christmas after he had seen one advertised in Boys' Life magazine. However, with his father still away fighting in World War II, his mother could only afford to buy a Kodak Brownie Hawkeye. By the time Counts started at Arkansas State Teachers College (now the University of Central Arkansas ) in 1949, he knew he wanted to be a news journalist. He eventually became

204-537: A country. It may also be a newspaper authorized to publish public or legal notices , thus serving as a newspaper of public record . A newspaper whose editorial content is directed by the state can be referred to as an official newspaper of record , but the lack of editorial independence means that it is not a "newspaper of record by reputation". Newspapers of record by reputation that focus on business can also be called newspapers of financial record . A "newspaper of public record", or government gazette , refers to

255-595: A decline in their newspapers of record by reputation can represent a decline in levels of personal and political freedom (e.g. Zimbabwe, Venezuela, and Cambodia). Examples include: Will Counts Will Counts was born in Little Rock on August 24, 1931. During the Depression he, his brother, and his parents (Ira Counts Sr. and Jeanne Frances Adams Counts) were sharecroppers in White County , outside

306-418: A government that directs their entire editorial content. Such newspapers, while pejoratively termed " state mouthpieces ", can also be called "official newspapers of record", independently of whether they publish legal notices - distinguishing them from a gazette whose primary role is to publish notices, as their entire content represents the official view and doctrine of the state. This kind of official newspaper

357-419: A newspaper of record in the original, literal sense. Over time, historians relied on The New York Times and similar titles as a reliable archival and historical record of significant past events, and a gauge of societal opinions at the time of printing. The term "newspaper of record" evolved from its original literal sense to that newer meaning. The derived term "financial (or business) newspaper of record"

408-529: A newspaper won two Pulitzer Prizes within the same year. Despite its honors, the circulation of the Gazette dropped during the crisis due to boycotts, which ended when Ashmore left the paper. The Democrat charted a generally neutral editorial stand. Its photographer Will Counts took several important pictures of the crisis, including a famous photo of Elizabeth Eckford , one of the Nine, being shouted at by an angry white girl, later identified as Hazel Massery ;

459-476: A period of explosive growth in Indiana's journalism department, Counts earned his doctorate and became Encyclopædia Britannica's expert on photojournalism. In 1999, Counts published A Life is More Than a Moment. The title came from a line spoken to him by Hazel Massery , the same girl who is seen snarling and shouting at Elizabeth Eckford in his iconic 1957 photograph. Massery stated that she "deeply regretted

510-486: A photographer for the college. Around the same time, he was freelancing for the Arkansas Gazette and the Arkansas Democrat . In 1952, he received a BA in education. In 1954, he received his master's degree in education and audio-visual communications at Indiana University (IU). Fifteen years later, Counts earned his doctorate in education at IU. While pursuing his master's degree in Bloomington, Indiana , he

561-488: A publicly available newspaper that is authorized by a government to publish public or legal notices. It is often established by statute or official action and publication of notices within it, whether by the government or a private party, is considered sufficient to comply with legal requirements for public notice . Such gazettes may have minimal or no editorial content (opinion articles), and are focused on public notification of state services and state decisions; an example

SECTION 10

#1732772390226

612-765: A similar tone, coverage, style, and traditions; many are over a century old and some over two centuries old (e.g., Neue Zürcher Zeitung , The Times , The Guardian , Le Figaro , and The Sydney Morning Herald ). Newspapers of record by reputation can be respected for the accuracy and quality of their reporting and still be either ideologically conservative (e.g., The Wall Street Journal and The Telegraph ) or ideologically liberal (e.g., The Washington Post and The Guardian ). Although many countries are proud of their newspapers of record by reputation, in some countries they face an openly hostile state or political system that tries to suppress their press freedoms. Examples are Turkey's Cumhuriyet , where many of

663-428: A state. The Gazette scrupulously avoided political involvement or endorsement early in its history. In 1821, the territorial capital was moved to Little Rock , and Woodruff moved his Gazette along with it. The Gazette led the campaign for Arkansas statehood, accomplished in 1836, and constantly promoted new immigration. The Gazette supported Texas independence and called for volunteers from Arkansas to assist

714-620: A story accompanying the photo that Wilson wanted to retain his dignity, and refused to fight back. Counts's picture made the front page of newspapers across the nation; it moved President Dwight Eisenhower , the next day, to federalize the Arkansas National Guard and send 1,000 members of the Army's 101st Airborne Division to Little Rock to ensure the school would be desegregated. Hired in 1963, Counts taught photojournalism at Indiana University for 32 years. During this time,

765-404: A wide-angled lens that gave him an advantage over other photographers. Others typically shot with large Speed Graphic press cameras that involved reloading the camera after each individual shot. Counts also shot many exposures to ensure a winning shot. His heavy bracketing approach was greatly inspired by Henri Cartier-Bresson who often shot many photographs of the same scene to ensure capturing

816-626: Is Latvia 's Latvijas Vēstnesis . In some jurisdictions, privately owned newspapers may register with the government to publish public and legal notices, or be otherwise eligible to publish such notices (terms used may include "newspaper of general circulation" among others). Likewise, a private newspaper may be designated by the courts for publication of legal notices, such as notices of fictitious business names , if judicial and statutory standards are met. These are sometimes called "legally adjudicated newspapers". The term "newspapers of public record" can also denote those owned and operated by

867-413: Is a major national newspaper with large circulation whose editorial and news-gathering functions are considered authoritative and independent; they are thus "newspapers of record by reputation" and include some of the oldest and most widely respected newspapers in the world. The number and trend of "newspapers of record by reputation" is related to the state of press freedom and political freedom in

918-466: Is aided by its "virtual monopoly" over news in the region. The Democrat-Gazett e ended print delivery of its Monday-Saturday papers statewide throughout 2018 and 2019 and transitioned to a digital replica edition. All subscribers were provided a new iPad to access the replica edition and one-on-one instruction, training, and technical assistance. The Sunday paper remains in traditional print circulation. Newspaper of record A newspaper of record

969-649: Is attributed to The Wall Street Journal , the Financial Times , and to the Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Nikkei) . While newspapers of record by reputation are typically major widely-read national (and international) publications, subject-specific newspapers of record also exist (see examples of subject-specific newspapers of record ). Over time, some established newspapers of record by reputation have lost their status due to financial collapse, take-over or merger by another entity that did not have

1020-510: Is distinct from newspapers of record by reputation, and is liable to fail the reputation criterion due to its governmental control. The word "official" can be used to distinguish them from "newspapers of record by reputation". Examples include Russia's Rossiyskaya Gazeta , North Korea's Rodong Sinmun , and China's People's Daily . The second type of "newspaper of record" (also "journal of record", or in French presse de référence )

1071-577: Is not defined by formal criteria, and its characteristics vary. The category comprises newspapers that are considered to meet high standards of journalism , including editorial independence (particularly from the government and from its owners), accountability (mistakes are acknowledged), attention to detail and accuracy, and comprehensiveness and balance of coverage; they are regarded internationally (as well as in their own country/region) by major global outlets. Despite changes in society, newspapers of record by reputation have historically tended to maintain

SECTION 20

#1732772390226

1122-674: The Arkansas Times from a magazine format to a tabloid newspaper to provide a more liberal weekly alternative to the dominant conservative paper. In the years since, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette has maintained a higher circulation than newspapers in similarly sized cities. Many newspapers that defeated in-town rivals concentrated on reducing costs and reduced news coverage to meet their goals. The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette has continued to balance quality goals with profitability. Pulitzer Prize winner Paul Greenberg

1173-625: The Associated Press declared it to be one of the top 100 photos of the 20th century. Counts also helped arrange the public reconciliation of Eckford and Massery in 1997. Counts' work submitted by the Arkansas Democrat for the 1958 Pulitzer Prize received the unanimous recommendation of the Pulitzer jurors for Best Spot News Photography. However, Counts was denied the award when the Pulitzer board overruled its jurors and gave

1224-466: The Democrat-Gazette implemented a website paywall in 2002. The newspaper credits the strategy with helping it stem declines in circulation, where it has fared much better than the industry at large since that time. Most other newspapers that implemented paywalls later had been operating popular free-access websites for years, leading to reader backlash. The Economist noted that the strategy

1275-514: The Gazette is preserved at the Historic Arkansas Museum in Little Rock. The history of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette goes back to the earliest days of territorial Arkansas . William E. Woodruff arrived at the territorial capital at Arkansas Post in late 1819 on a dugout canoe with a second-hand wooden press. He cranked out the first edition of the Arkansas Gazette on November 20, 1819, 17 years before Arkansas became

1326-522: The Gazette to combine operations, but his overtures were rejected. Hussman vigorously fought back and intended to make the Democrat the state's largest newspaper. A war ensued between the two papers. The Democrat expanded its news operation, offered free classified advertisements, and switched from afternoon to morning publication. In 1979, Hussman appointed John Robert Starr to managing editor. The fiery and irascible Starr temperament and intent in

1377-402: The Gazette . The Gazette and the Democrat exchanged words that soon escalated into an exchange of gunfire between the owner of the Democrat and a part-owner of the Gazette . Over the years, the Gazette and the Democrat supported opposing candidates and took opposite editorial positions. The Gazette remained the dominant state newspaper throughout the simmering battle. The Gazette

1428-403: The Gazette' s 218,000 to achieve 230,000. The financial losses of the fiercely contested battle were too much for Gannett to justify. On October 18, 1991, Gannett threw in the towel and sold the Gazette to WEHCO. The first edition of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette rolled off the presses the following day, October 19. Regardless of which paper they subscribed to, most Arkansans were saddened by

1479-508: The Hussman family. Walter E. Hussman Jr. , 27, became the publisher. At the time of Hussman's arrival, the morning Gazette was far in front of the afternoon Democrat , with daily circulation 118,702 to the Democrat's 62,405. Hussman embarked on a campaign of significant cost reductions and concentrated subscription efforts on the Little Rock urban market. These efforts had little success. By 1977, Hussman attempted to reach an agreement with

1530-771: The Texans and supported the Mexican–American War . In the 1840s, Woodruff lost control of the paper and established a competing paper, the Arkansas Democrat (unrelated to the later Democrat ). In 1855, editor Christopher C. Danley and Solon Borland took ownership of the newspaper, turning it into a mouthpiece for the Know Nothing party. The Gazette struggled through the early American Civil War , facing financial problems and shortages of supplies. The Gazette had initially been pro-United States but altered its position after U.S. President Abraham Lincoln called for

1581-490: The U.S. Supreme Court's ruling that " separate but equal " was unconstitutional, Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus had called the Guard to block integration. One of Counts’ most famous images captures African-American Elizabeth Eckford being harassed by an angry white mob of students after being denied entrance at Central High. He recalled Eckford never losing her composure. "She just remained so dignified, so determined in what she

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette - Misplaced Pages Continue

1632-489: The United States. The Gazette responded by hiring new staff, going to a color format, and filing a federal antitrust suit against the Democrat in 1984. The lawsuit accused the Hussman enterprises of predatory practices and trying to harm the Gazette. The Democrat responded that it was only trying to gain market share to be more competitive with the larger and more dominant Arkansas Gazette. A federal jury in

1683-512: The award to another entrant which portrayed a different local police force as friendly to its citizens. In 2005, the Democrat-Gazette editorial cartoonist John Deering and his wife Cathy created a bronze sculpture of the Nine, entitled Testament , on the grounds of the Arkansas State Capitol . Heiskell died in 1972, and his family continued to run the Gazette. In 1974, the Democrat was sold to WEHCO Media Inc., owned by

1734-524: The best representative shot. Eckford and Hazel Bryan Massery , one of the white students captured screaming at Eckford in one of Counts’ iconic photos, met in 1997 when a reconciliation was organized by Counts and his wife, Vivian. Only a few weeks after the famous photograph of Elizabeth Eckford was taken, Counts photographed black journalist Alex Wilson, a reporter for the Memphis-based Tri-State Defender , being kicked in

1785-520: The court of U.S. District Judge William R. Overton rendered its verdict on March 26, 1986. The Democrat was found not guilty of all the allegations leveled against it by the Gazette . The Heiskell family sold the Arkansas Gazette to Gannett , the nation's largest newspaper chain, on December 1, 1986. Gannett had immense assets to fight the Democrat. However, it received criticism for bringing in out-of-town reporters and staff and losing

1836-548: The editorial process. The Gazette took a strong editorial stance against Governor Orval Faubus when he tried to prevent the Little Rock Nine from integrating Little Rock Central High School in 1957. In 1958 the Gazette was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for its stand; executive editor Harry Ashmore won the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing . This was the first time in history that

1887-458: The face by a brick-wielding white man while a crowd watched. This image, too, was captured in front of Central High School. The image shows Wilson doubled over, yet he clutches his hat in one hand. Wilson, later the editor of the Defender , told Counts that the hat was "the only piece of dignity I had." The mob trailed Wilson for a block and continued kicking him when he was down. Counts wrote in

1938-534: The first U.S. newspaper in 1913 to publish an index of the subjects it covered. In recognition of that usage, The New York Times held an essay contest in 1927 in which entrants had to demonstrate "The Value of The New York Times Index and Files as a Newspaper of Record". The New York Times , and other newspapers of its type sought to chronicle events, acting as a record of the day's announcements, schedules, directories, proceedings, transcripts, and appointments. By 2004, The New York Times no longer considered itself

1989-658: The nominees. But the Pulitzer board did not choose him as the winner, because three Pulitzers had already been awarded for Little Rock coverage. Counts won a first place award by the National Press Photographer's Association and first place in the spot news category for the fifteenth annual "News Picture of the Year Competition" for his photo of Alex Wilson. The image was also selected by the Encyclopædia Britannica as one of

2040-453: The paper's local feel. The Gazette , nicknamed the "Old Lady", became flashier, but critics complained that the paper had lost the respect of the readership. Over the next five years, the two newspapers dueled. The circulation of the Gazette remained steady over that period. Still, the daily circulation of the Democrat went from 81,000 to 131,000, and the Sunday circulation leaped ahead of

2091-573: The photograph for she had become the poster child of the hate generation." She apologized to Eckford years later and for a short time the two became friends. Counts died of cancer in Bloomington, Indiana in 2001. The Associated Press and the Arkansas Democrat entered Counts's images captured at Central High School for the 1957 Pulitzer Prize in news photography, and the Pulitzer Prize photography jury unanimously chose him as one of

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette - Misplaced Pages Continue

2142-433: The same standards or allowed increased government control and suppression of the paper's editorial independence. The existence of newspapers of record by reputation is an aspect of the level of press freedom and political freedom in a country, with major first-world democracies having several such newspapers (e.g. United States, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Canada, Italy and Japan); in contrast, countries that have seen

2193-414: The staff have been imprisoned; Panama's La Prensa , where staff have been shot and the owners forced into exile; and Venezuela's El Nacional , which was forced out of print when the state seized its assets (see examples of fallen newspapers of record ). The term is believed to have originated among librarians who began referring to The New York Times as the "newspaper of record" when it became

2244-424: The sudden loss of their historic newspaper. Many of the reporters and staff of the more liberal Gazette were thrown out of work and not picked up by the more conservative Democrat-Gazette . Many former employees were bitter at Gannett for managing the newspaper war and angry at the Democrat for achieving victory. Many of the "Old Lady's" employees left for other markets while some who remained aided in converting

2295-634: The town of Rose Bud and in Lonoke County , outside of Cabot , before they relocated in 1936 to the Plum Bayou Homesteads , a New Deal project, in Jefferson County . Later, the family returned to Little Rock where Counts attended Little Rock High School (now Central High). It was there that his journalism teacher, Edna Middlebrook, spurred his interest in photography. During his junior year, Counts asked his mother for

2346-419: The upcoming circulation war was humorously illustrated by a cover story in the monthly magazine Arkansas Times showing Starr squatting atop a Gazette newspaper box with a dagger between his teeth to show his seriousness. Starr doubled the size of the news staff and concentrated on hard news. Under Starr's direction, readership increased steadily. During 1980, the Democrat was the fastest-growing newspaper in

2397-408: The world's fifty most memorable news photos in the last fifty years. The photograph was said to have led President Dwight D. Eisenhower to send federal troops to Little Rock, Arkansas to protect African Americans during the integration effort. Counts went on to work for the Associated Press . He developed some of the most renowned photojournalism departments in the United States and, in 1996, he

2448-570: Was appointed the Democrat-Gazette editorial page editor on April 29, 1992. A sixth-generation Arkansan, Griffin Smith was appointed Executive Editor on June 23, 1992. Smith retired on May 1, 2012. Managing editor David Bailey, who joined the paper in May 1993, took over leadership of the newsroom operation. Greenberg stepped down on August 1, 2015, and David Barham, who joined the paper in 2002, took over as editorial page editor. Before most other newspapers,

2499-421: Was doing," he said. That photo, and four others that Counts shot on that day, were published on the front page of the Democrat . In his 1999 book, A Life is More Than a Moment, Counts details how he captured the shot. He states that he wore an inconspicuous red shirt and slacks while shooting to blend in with the crowd as a way to avoid looking like a journalist. He also notes that on his Nikon S2 camera, he used

2550-403: Was owned and edited by John Netherland Heiskell , who guided it with a firm hand through most of the 20th century. In 1926, August Engel acquired a significant interest in the Democrat. He became the newspaper's president and general manager, leading it through substantial growth over the next 43 years. Engel gained a reputation as a hard-working, shrewd businessman who actively participated in

2601-530: Was production supervisor at the IU audiovisual center. In 1957, he moved back to Little Rock and was rehired by the Democrat as a staff photographer and editor of its Sunday magazine. Counts was 26 when some of his most iconic images were published on September 4, 1957. Still a photographer for the Democrat , Counts captured white demonstrators and the National Guard gathering outside Central High. Despite

SECTION 50

#1732772390226
#225774