Behind the News

"Behind the News" first appeared in The Batesville Guard in June 1975 and continued as a weekly column until the end of 2015 — more than 40 years. The name of the column came from the fact that the Guard's Opinion page was page 2, right behind the main news page.

The column appeared in The Guard until 1995, when I became managing editor of The Courier at Russellville, and there it continued weekly even after I started writing editorials regularly.

In April 2001, when I became editor of The Jonesboro Sun, the column came with me, as did the editorial writing — usually four editorials and one column a week. In November 2011 the column was picked up by the Arkansas News Bureau.

When I retired as editor on Feb. 1, 2012, I decided to continue the column and signed an agreement with the Arkansas News Bureau to produce it weekly for its 12-15 client newspapers, while also writing occasional extra columns for The Sun on strictly local issues. That agreement ended March 7, 2014, when Stephens Media Group downsized the bureau and stopped distribution of its opinion columns.

Beginning March 10, 2014, I “self-syndicated” the column, starting with six newspaper clients — The Sun, The Courier at Russellville, The Morning News at Springdale, the Pine Bluff Commercial, the Searcy Citizen and The Daily Record at Little Rock.

"Behind the News" ended as a regular column on Dec. 29, 2015. However, I continue to write occasional guest columns for interested newspapers, including some of my last clients.

This site represents an attempt to archive all columns in one place that can be accessible to anyone interested. Columns and editorials done while I was editor of The Sun are archived on the newspaper's Web site, www.jonesborosun.com. Columns done for the ANB are, for at least the time being, archived on www.arkansasnews.com.