Type Alternative weekly Publisher Alan Leveritt Founded 1974 | Format Tabloid Editor Lindsey Millar | |
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Owner(s) Arkansas Times Limited Partnership | ||
Arkansas Times, a weekly alternative newspaper based in Little Rock, Arkansas, is a publication that has circulated for nearly 40 years, originally as a magazine. Its current format stems from reaction to the Arkansas Democrat's buyout of assets from Gannett's closure of the Arkansas Gazette in 1991, which had resulted in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Arkansas Times ' senior editor, Max Brantley, is among those former Gazette staffers who lost their jobs as a result of the merger. He was the first editor of the weekly edition in May 1992. The Gazette's editorial cartoonist, George Fisher, became the Times cartoonist until his death.
Billed as Arkansas's weekly newspaper of politics and culture (similarly styled as other regional publications like The Memphis Flyer), Arkansas Times is noted for its opinion columnists and feature articles that take a decidedly liberal stance in comparison to the larger, daily Democrat-Gazette.
Over the years since its founding, the publication's parent company — Arkansas Times Limited Partnership — has gone on to produce a number of special inserts and associated publications. Among these are the weekly El Latino, a Spanish-language weekly. The company also publishes Savvy Kids, a family magazine; the quarterly Arkansas Wild about outdoor pursuits and Arkansas Food and Farm, a periodical that reports on small farm agriculture and locally sourced foods. Annually, the first Times issue of the new year is the Native's Guide to Pulaski County — a comprehensive guide to communities and services in Little Rock and throughout Arkansas's most populous county.
The Times was an early innovator in Arkansas as a source of on-line news. Its Arkansas Blog, began as a source of breaking news and analysis about Arkansas, in October 2004. It records some 300,000 unique visitors monthly and also attracts readers through Twitter and Facebook posts. Unlimited access to the Arkansas Blog now is a subscription offering.
Lindsey Millar became editor of the Times in 2011. He's introduced a number of the new digital features, including a weekly public affairs podcast and a daily video headline program. He's exanded the newspaper's reporting reach by privately underwritten reporting projects on a major oil pipeline spill and an ongoing project on education in Arkansas.
Logo
The icon used at the close of most articles and columns throughout the publication is the stylized face of a catfish. A larger version appears with a top hat and monocle at the top of the "Observer" column, typically found on Page 5 each week. The catfish is also seen in the newspaper's sign outside its building at Markham and Scott Streets in downtown Little Rock.