The Walton Family Foundation has given the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Community Journalism Project a grant to match up to $100,000. This means your gift will have double the impact on local news reporting.
A letter from our editor
Facts matter.
Like a rare mineral or a precious gem, facts must be unearthed. Facts must be pursued. Facts must be found. That is the difficult, important work of reporters. Biographer Robert Caro said in 2019: “What is a great reporter? Someone who never stops trying to get as close to the truth as possible.”
Now, more than ever, great reporters are needed. To whom does one turn to see the world as it is? To whom does one turn for facts unvarnished, for facts not spun but facts presented in pursuit of truth?
Turn to the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. You can count on us to deliver serious, thoughtful journalism based on our craft’s time-honored principle of objectivity in reporting. That work is challenging and costly. Donations to the Community Journalism Project help us expand our coverage. Donations help us dig deeper and do more. Donations help us serve you and the people of Northwest Arkansas.
For example, our exclusive “Unpacking the Issues” podcast helped break down such topics as the burgeoning crisis of the region’s only landfill nearing capacity as the Northwest Arkansas construction boom gained speed. When the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act, among America’s strongest state transparency laws, endured a potential legislative assault, “Unpacking the Issues” delivered a clear, concise explanation of what the measure means and why it matters. That important law retained its fundamental structure. All this work was possible only because of the funding provided by the Community Journalism Project. Similarly, donor dollars fuel our coverage of health in a state besieged by wide ranging concerns from infant mortality to chronic disease.
We can do more with your help. We can explore in greater detail the issues of health, economic development, income mobility and homelessness and addiction, all subjects critical to the future of our state.
Link hands with us. Help us relentlessly pursue truth. Because we all know it matters.
Lee Wolverton
Executive Editor
Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
