If It Ain't Broke, Break It by Donna Lampkin Stephens

Author:Donna Lampkin Stephens [Stephens, Donna Lampkin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781610755610
Publisher: University of Arkansas Press

Another battle between Patterson and Malone involved a proposed bill in the Arkansas legislature to expand the state sales tax, which at that time did not apply to newspaper advertising. Patterson recalled that, as a liberal newspaper, the Gazette had philosophically opposed unreasonable tax exemptions. “Really, it didn’t make much sense for advertising to be exempt, so our thought on the editorial page was, ‘Yeah, nobody wants to be taxed, but still, why should we not be taxed and somebody else be taxed? So yeah, we’ll support it,’” he said.60 Instead, publisher Malone ordered the staff to produce an editorial decrying the move to add sales tax to newspaper advertising. Patterson refused, to the point of insubordination. Malone, who told him he would speak to him about the situation later, apparently did call Gannett headquarters, which decreed that the Gazette’s editorial page would be left alone. Patterson said the incident might have hastened his demise. “Ultimately, we reached a compromise, and I feel bad about that because I did compromise,” he said. “We just didn’t write anything.”61

Bob McCord said Gannett made many mistakes with the Gazette. “Some of the people they brought in were just not good at what they did,” he said. “They knew so little about Little Rock and Arkansas except what they’d read in funny books.”62 He criticized the featurizing of news stories, calling it “amazing” some of the things that got on the front page, but he admitted Gannett improved the look of the paper.63 John Reed agreed the company did some good things with the Gazette, citing in particular the pullout tab of legislative coverage he was a part of during the 1989 session. The stories were separated and enhanced by charts and photos.64

Early in its ownership, Gannett had Michael Gartner, the editor it had inherited when it bought the Des Moines Register (and who had since moved to the corporate office) critique a week of Gazettes. It did not go well for Patterson or his paper.

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