Support the Arkansas Times Black Reporter Fundraising Effort
Dear Reader:
A few years ago Little Rock civil rights attorney John Walker was in our office and expressed surprise at the few Black employees.
“I know what you’re doing,” he said. “You’re hiring by word of mouth and if you do that, you will never have the Black community represented here.”
He was right.
In small businesses, we usually hire people we know. And even in 2024, many of our neighborhoods, schools and social circles are racially divided.
The Arkansas Times turns 50 this year and in our history, we’ve had only one Black journalist. We’ve done a better job hiring writers from the Latino writers and LGBTQ+ community. But we want to do far more to diversity the voices in our pages.
Centering Black voices is all the more important in a city where half the population is Black. And a new era of leadership at City Hall proves the white monopoly on local government is over. Mayor Frank Scott Jr. took the helm as the city’s first Black mayor in 2019, and his leadership style and priorities have sparked criticism from members of the white political and business establishment. Perspectives are bound to differ, and the Arkansas Times would like to be able to offer readers a broader view.
Right now Times Editor Austin Gelder is recruiting Black journalists to join our staff. We’re looking locally, regionally, nationally. If you know of a person who is interested, they can reach Austin at Austin@arktimes.com .
And if you believe in our vision of a more diverse newsroom, we hope you will help us raise the money for this important hire.
In the past two years, we have grown our editorial staff from four to 12 supported entirely by online subscriptions from readers and donations, 100% of which have gone to maintain and add reporters to our staff. Because of the support of readers like you, we are one of a handful of local news publications in the country adding, not laying off, local reporters .
We have already received $25,000 in donations toward diversifying our newsroom, which leaves us $25,000 to go.
This is important. There is a huge gap here. Voices not heard. Worldviews not shared and understood . Stories that need to be told .
Please donate to help us pay this reporter. We hope to make this hire by the end of summer. Your donation is tax deductible and will make a huge difference in our ability to increase the amount and quality of local news coverage for our whole community.
