#125, OTOH, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette owner & publisher Eliza Hussman Gaines, Part 1, Sept 11 2025

April Chatham‑Carpenter and Glen White interview Eliza Hussman Gaines, a fourth-generation newspaper industry leader and publisher of the Arkansas Democrat‑Gazette, as well as a leader in her family’s news media group, WEHCO. Eliza describes her family’s newsroom legacy, the difference between editorial and publishing roles, and the newsroom values that guide fair reporting. Eliza emphasized the role of journalists as community leaders and the view of she and her family as being stewards of the public’s access to quality information.

We discuss challenges facing local journalism—trust, misinformation, and the use of AI, Artificial Intelligence, in her company's news organization. We also explore how strong journalistic ethics, community stewardship, and smart business choices help sustain quality local news. Also discussed are concerns about recent legislative changes to Arkansas’s Freedom Of Information law and the importance of maintaining a strong FOIA law that ensures Arkansans have access to information about its government.

Eliza points out threats to a free press currently facing our country and how their paper uses several approaches to ensure that the information they provide the public is accurate and neutral. She emphasizes the broad range of political opinions that they publish in their paper as a means of covering multiple views that provide important perspectives to their readers.