Fighting over Talent in Arkansas   

Nine years ago, the war in Little Rock ended with one daily giving in to the other. But the state's largest paper still faces threats. This time, the challenge comes from northwest Arkansas.

That's where the capital city's Democrat-Gazette has launched a new edition. But the area already has Donrey Media Group's Springdale-based Morning News and the Fayetteville-based Northwest Arkansas Times, owned by Community Publishers Inc. This puts three daily papers in the hunt for news and top journalists.

While the Democrat-Gazette, located in the center of the state, has tried to expand its circulation (now at 177,879) in the northwest, Donrey has targeted the big paper for recruits.

The media group has made some catches, too. The most notable evacuee is political columnist John Brummett. He left the Wehco Media Inc.-owned Democrat-Gazette in late June for the chance to have his voice heard more widely across the state. He was the only liberal staffer on the paper's editorial page. Brummett's columns are now available to all of Donrey's more than 20 papers, 10 in Arkansas alone.

"It was a difficult decision to make," Brummett says, although he admits there had been static at the Democrat-Gazette for a while, given his solitary left-of-center stance. "But it worked out well."

Donrey's Morning News has a circulation of 35,611, and the combined circulation of Donrey's Arkansas papers is about 114,490. The Northwest Arkansas Times' circulation is 14,884.

When Donrey offered Brummett a salary that was higher than the one he was getting, the Democrat-Gazette upped the ante--with no luck. He followed two other staffers to Donrey--state Capitol reporter Rob Moritz and editorial cartoonist Vic Harville. Moritz thinks this is just the beginning. "I would hope [the Democrat-Gazette] is concerned," he says.

Moritz says he jumped ship in late June because, he says, "I like covering state government, and I like working for an organization that's stepping up the newspaper war in northwest Arkansas." He and Harville also enjoy Donrey-wide distribution, and all three former Democrat-Gazette reporters work at the Donrey bureau in Little Rock.

The Democrat-Gazette just might have started the battle. Two years ago, prompted by a healthy economy and a growing population in that corner of the state, the paper started up a northwest Arkansas edition.

The three-way competition is forcing the papers to pay reporters "more than a paper would in a stand-alone situation," says Steven Trolinger, president of Northwest Arkansas Times owner Community Publishers. "The whole thing results in a great benefit to readers and advertisers, because they're getting a really good paper at a really good price."

Like Brummett, Harville was motivated by the chance for more exposure. Not only can he now create more than three cartoons a week--the limit at the Democrat-Gazette because he shared space with another cartoonist--"this gives me the opportunity to be in more newspapers," he says.

Democrat-Gazette Managing Editor David Bailey is quick to downplay the defections. "It's not a bleeding wound," he says. "We're a large enough paper that it's not crippling to us when we lose a few reporters."

One thing's for sure: The Morning News is in the middle of a hiring spree. The paper has filled about nine new positions and has 10 more slots to fill. Tom Stallbaumer, publisher of the Morning News and the person heading up the hiring campaign, says the talent search isn't focused exclusively on the Democrat-Gazette. "We're recruiting far and wide," he says. "Since this is a major expansion of our newsroom, we're trying to get the message out to as wide an audience as possible."

However, it's rumored that Donrey's been lobbying hard for some of the Democrat-Gazette's talent; Bailey admits he's heard that two or three more of his own were approached but turned down offers.

Most recently, Donrey unsuccessfully courted the Democrat-Gazette's deputy sports editor, Jeff Krupsaw, offering him the sports editor position at one of the media group's papers.

Bailey is clear about why the persistent poaching doesn't scare him: "The Democrat-Gazette is by far the largest newspaper in Arkansas," he says. "We have a brilliant staff who aspire to very large markets. [Donrey] is asking these people to leave a metropolitan paper and go to a small daily. I'd be surprised to see a mass exodus."

Bailey points out that the traffic is hardly one way. "There are several people in the [Democrat-Gazette's] northwest Arkansas office that are former Donrey reporters," he says.

As for the Democrat-Gazette's northwest edition, Stallbaumer says the increased competition has not negatively affected the Morning News. "I don't think it's hurt the circulation of our newspaper," Stallbaumer says. "We continue to show some growth."

Besides, he adds, "As the leading newspaper in the market, you always have someone trying to move into your territory."

Trolinger seems energized by the newspaper war, which he says has been brewing for nearly a decade and is just hitting its stride. "We expect it to get much worse," he says. But that doesn't bother him. "Our circulation is stronger than ever," he says, thanks to more people reading newspapers in that part of the state.

Bailey remains indifferent to the aggressive moves, but his comments are colorful enough to indicate there's some backbiting going on. He says a Donrey advertisement for new reporters shows the media group is after entry-level journalists. "It seems like the ability to pass a drug test is the strongest prerequisite."