Morriss to Retire After 53 Years

Jim Morriss, who has worked for The Morning News since 1949, plans to retire at the end of March.

“I’ve had a lot of great experiences in the news business in my career,” Morriss said. “At some point, you reach the decision that it’s time to make a change.”

Morriss, 66, began his journalism career at the age of 13 at what was then The Springdale News. He was a part-time employee who melted lead for the Linotype machine. Morriss became a full-time reporter/photographer at the newspaper in 1958.

Morriss rose through the ranks to become executive editor in 1994, the year the Springdale newspaper and Rogers’ Northwest Arkansas Morning News merged to become The Morning News of Northwest Arkansas. In 2000, the name of the newspaper was shortened to simply The Morning News.