MEDIAWEEK Reports On Area Newspaper War

Although editors at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette say there’s no newspaper war going on in Northwest Arkansas, MEDIAWEEK, a national news magazine of the media, wrote about the “war” in the July 27 issue of the magazine.

“WEHCO Media Inc.’s Democrat-Gazette, based in Little Rock, wants turf already occupied by the hometown (Benton County) Daily Record, the Northwest Arkansas Times (owned by Hollinger International Inc.) and The Morning News of Northwest Arkansas (owned by Donrey Media Group),” reports MEDIAWEEK. “Such is the case in Northwest Arkansas, where round after round of price-cutting and editorial improvement have become commonplace.

“From upping the news hole to giving across-the-board staff pay raises to prevent raiding, the region has become a hotbed for economic development and increased advertising dollars.”

The D-G, which had been adding staff and localizing its Northwest Arkansas product for months, launched a Northwest Arkansas edition of the newspaper on July 12.

MEDIAWEEK quoted Don Nelms, owner of several Fayetteville auto dealerships, saying the D-G was offering “good” advertising rates compared to the Morning News, which has “extra-high rates, and I’m not sure it’s worth it.”

“If they don’t lower their rates,” Nelms says of the Morning News, “they won’t be in the war.”

When we checked in July, the D-G’s display ad rates were about two-thirds the price of those in Morning News, but the Morning News’ circulation in the two heavily populated, northwestern-most counties of Arkansas was about four times greater than that of the D-G.