Duplication Confuses Readers of ‘Alliance’ Papers
by February 19, 2001 12:00 am 53 views
We can’t help wondering how much longer the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and its “alliance” partners, the Northwest Arkansas Times and the Benton County Daily Record, will continue to send two reporters to cover the same event.
Sometimes the result is … well … confusing.
Take the Feb. 6 issue of both newspapers, for example. Fayetteville Fire Chief Mickey Jackson resigned after 15 years on the job. The story was Page 1 in both the D-G and the Times, which in Fayetteville is included inside the D-G (for readers who subscribe to or purchase a D-G) as basically a local section.
The Times told readers that Jackson was basically a pretty good feller. The D-G story was quite different, noting that Jackson’s resignation came after union criticism related to a Dec. 29 church fire in which four firefighters were injured.
The Morning News picked up on the connection, and the Times did, too — a day late on Feb. 7. But it must have been confusing to readers of the D-G/Times bundle on Feb. 6. They had to be thinking, “Who do I believe here?”