End of Harry King?

[ricepig]

Looks like Stephens has cut it's NLR location to 1 employee, it's sort of Razorback related in the Harry reported on the Razorbacks for a long time. I did notice that Robbie kept his job.

http://www.arkansasbusiness.com/article/97407/stephens-owned-news-bureau-lays-off-5?utm_source=enews_022814&utm_medium=email&utm_content=daily-report&utm_campaign=newsletter&enews_zone=195011

[murthage]

Hmmmmmmmm... Obamacare casualty??? Guess we will never really know.

[WILL CLINTON]

Hmmmmmmmm... Obamacare casualty??? Guess we will never really know.

I figure it has more to do with the fact that newspapers are kind of going the way of the beta max and phone books, no one uses them anymore.

[Mike_e]

I figure it has more to do with the fact that newspapers are kind of going the way of the beta max and phone books, no one uses them anymore.

Make the pages 50% smaller and the type 75% smaller and try to sell it to an ageing population.

brilliant

[Inhogswetrust]

I figure it has more to do with the fact that newspapers are kind of going the way of the beta max and phone books, no one uses them anymore.

They threw our new phone books on our front entrance yesterday. I immediately threw them in the trash.

[Inhogswetrust]

Make the pages 50% smaller and the type 75% smaller and try to sell it to an ageing population.

brilliant

Why do you think they started to downsize everything in the newspaper business including the sizes of them...................

[Big Papa Satan]

Buh bye, Harry. 

[Mike Irwin]

From what I understand he was ready to retire. The word is he'll still be working part time.

[BadHog]

It is ashame because having fewer quality journalists reporting the sporting news leads to more biased, unobjective, unknowledgeable and tainted coverage.

Harry was the real deal.

Another one bites the dust and we are left reading the superfluous hogwash of cliche-spewing Wally Hall.

[Wild Bill Hog]

It is ashame because having fewer quality journalists reporting the sporting news leads to more biased, unobjective, unknowledgeable and tainted coverage.

Harry was the real deal.

Another one bites the dust and we are left reading the superfluous hogwash of cliche-spewing Wally Hall.

Reduced competition results in sloppy performance as well.

[PORKULATOR]

He needs to retire. I haven't heard him say something good and truly positive about the hogs in awhile. I've not met him but heard he can be a pompus ass. That said, ain't gonna miss him.

[SquidBilly]

Whoever said Harry King can be a "pompous ass" is either the biggest idiot in the state or the biggest liar. Or both. Because that statement could not possibly be any further from the truth.

Coming from someone who'd know.

[Philip Seaton]

Whoever said Harry King can be a "pompous ass" is either the biggest idiot in the state or the biggest liar. Or both. Because that statement could not possibly be any further from the truth.

Could not agree with you more! Sad to hear about this. For those that put down the man, have never met the man.

[TheAlphaHog]

I don't really have an opinon strongly either way about King , but I'm not a fan of his.  But, as far as newspapers are concerned I really enjoy them them with my morning coffee and anyone who doesn't is really missing out.

[razorback44]

Looks like Stephens has cut it's NLR location to 1 employee, it's sort of Razorback related in the Harry reported on the Razorbacks for a long time. I did notice that Robbie kept his job.

http://www.arkansasbusiness.com/article/97407/stephens-owned-news-bureau-lays-off-5?utm_source=enews_022814&utm_medium=email&utm_content=daily-report&utm_campaign=newsletter&enews_zone=195011

Robbie is hands down the best Hogs reporter in the state. Glad to see he kept his job.

[wachhog]

It is ashame because having fewer quality journalists reporting the sporting news leads to more biased, unobjective, unknowledgeable and tainted coverage.

Harry was the real deal.
From what I read, I agree.

Another one bites the dust and we are left reading the superfluous hogwash of cliche-spewing Wally Hall.

From what I have read, I agree.

[wachhog]

We need all the journalists, including  Wally.  They would not be worth their salt if we always liked what they wrote or said.

[HognitiveDissonance]

It is ashame because having fewer quality journalists reporting the sporting news leads to more biased, unobjective, unknowledgeable and tainted coverage.

Harry was the real deal.

Another one bites the dust and we are left reading the superfluous hogwash of cliche-spewing Wally Hall.

I would trade Harry King for Wally Hall any day of the week.
Come to think of it, I would trade anybody for Wally Hall.

[HognitiveDissonance]

We need all the journalists, including  Wally.  They would not be worth their salt if we always liked what they wrote or said.

Actually, with me that has nothing to do with it. I read everything...agree or disagree.
I've just gotten tired of the pettiness, personal attacks, and the 'It's all about the media' attitude that Wally cops.

[bennyl08]

Harry King. He looks like an owl.

[BrassNunchucks]

It always kills me how much the number of journalism experts outnumbers those who have actually been to journalism school or been trained in the business. All one needs is a computer and an email address so you can log into a message board to enlighten the ignorant masses.

There are certainly shady journalists out there, but celebrating the loss of anyone's job strikes me as tasteless and low. Glad to hear Harry King was ready to retiree, anyway, because many others aren't.

Just remember that journalism done right serves an essential function by exposing corruption and stimulating debate. If there were more journalists, maybe you'd see more stories about the oil spill in Mayflower, for example, and maybe it doesn't happen again.

I don't know at what point journalists became the enemy, as if it was their fault the internet disrupted the newspaper industry. But if you're celebrating journalists losing their jobs, you're celebrating becoming more ignorant.

[Iwastherein1969]

grew up as a kid reading his weekly college football picks....to me, his words were as good as gold because Mr King knew what was going to happen....his finishing comment on a game would go something like this, 'Bill Montgomery with ice water in his veins will light up the scoreboard and the small but quick Hogs Defense is good enough to get the job done', "so make the score Arkansas 34...the pesky Rice Owls 13..." gonna miss Harry King, yet another part of my childhood falls to the wayside...good God, I'm getting old

[Mike_e]

It always kills me how much the number of journalism experts outnumbers those who have actually been to journalism school or been trained in the business. All one needs is a computer and an email address so you can log into a message board to enlighten the ignorant masses.

There are certainly shady journalists out there, but celebrating the loss of anyone's job strikes me as tasteless and low. Glad to hear Harry King was ready to retiree, anyway, because many others aren't.

Just remember that journalism done right serves an essential function by exposing corruption and stimulating debate. If there were more journalists, maybe you'd see more stories about the oil spill in Mayflower, for example, and maybe it doesn't happen again.

I don't know at what point journalists became the enemy, as if it was their fault the internet disrupted the newspaper industry. But if you're celebrating journalists losing their jobs, you're celebrating becoming more ignorant.

+1 and a tip of the hat!

[Pathogen]

Just remember that journalism done right serves an essential function by exposing corruption and stimulating debate.

I am assuming that you believe there is a lot more to journalism that just these two things.

I don't know at what point journalists became the enemy, as if it was their fault the internet disrupted the newspaper industry.

What's happened with media in Arkansas is a national trend, and I think it is more complex than just the Internet.  Over time newspapers, from the national to even the local level, have become increasingly one-sided, out of touch, and utterly lacking in objectivity.  Because of this, as alternative news sources started to become available, people flocked to them.  So yeah, it is largely because of the Internet, but there is more to it than that.

[Arky]

The couple times I was around Harry (golf) he was very gracious.

[Justifiable Hogicide]

He needs to retire. I haven't heard him say something good and truly positive about the hogs in awhile. I've not met him but heard he can be a pompus ass. That said, ain't gonna miss him.

He exposed his weaknesses as a reporter when he so famously said in the WMS press box during Petrino's difficult first season cleaning up the Nutt mess "maybe we shouldn't have fired Houston Nutt so quick."
All credibility shot for Harry after that.

[Atlhogfan1]

He exposed his weaknesses as a reporter when he so famously said in the WMS press box during Petrino's difficult first season cleaning up the Nutt mess "maybe we shouldn't have fired Houston Nutt so quick."
All credibility shot for Harry after that.

For me it was when he refused to believe Gus was hazed, the treatment of the recruits associated with him and the truth about the parents meeting.  Harry seemed like a nice person the  few times I was around him.  Too nice probably as he came across as very naïve after the Nutt era ended and truths started to come out.  Too nice and unassuming for the leeches like Barrett, Dawson, Henry etc not to use and fool into buying the company line.

[Atlhogfan1]

It always kills me how much the number of journalism experts outnumbers those who have actually been to journalism school or been trained in the business. All one needs is a computer and an email address so you can log into a message board to enlighten the ignorant masses.

There are certainly shady journalists out there, but celebrating the loss of anyone's job strikes me as tasteless and low. Glad to hear Harry King was ready to retiree, anyway, because many others aren't.

Just remember that journalism done right serves an essential function by exposing corruption and stimulating debate. If there were more journalists, maybe you'd see more stories about the oil spill in Mayflower, for example, and maybe it doesn't happen again.

I don't know at what point journalists became the enemy, as if it was their fault the internet disrupted the newspaper industry. But if you're celebrating journalists losing their jobs, you're celebrating becoming more ignorant.

Problem is there were major issues that needed exposing on his beat and he failed to do so.  Not holding him totally accountable though as a lot of media members failed at that time.  He probably couldn't believe what he was hearing as it was rather unbelievable a major college football program could be going through those things due to their head coach.  As I said, nice man who was probably too nice for that era.  Almost could consider him another Nutt casualty as he was played. 

[prairiehogcompanion]

Thanks Stephens . . . for another installment of "Descent into Darkness."

(It was pretty dark in your world already.)

[hambone]

Harry King was/is an idiot. The man was a total Nutt lover for one.

Nope, not sorry if he is gone.

[bphi11ips]

The couple times I was around Harry (golf) he was very gracious.

Same here.  On both fronts.  Good journalist.  Much too good to make it in today's market. 

[hambone]

Not true.

All I know is what I read in the papers. In his editorials, he was an unabashed Nutt apologist.

Remember when he got the exclusive with Nutt during the mess Nutt had made with Malzahn and the kids from Springdale? Harry never asked Nutt why he had said that he and Mustain had never talked about the book or the dork comments when Mustain was on TV weeks before saying they had.

It was a total fluff piece for Nutt and a sorry bit of journalism for sure.

Sorry, he was a Nutt lover and an access suck up.

[TOM "tbw1"]

Whoever said Harry King can be a "pompous ass" is either the biggest idiot in the state or the biggest liar. Or both. Because that statement could not possibly be any further from the truth.

Harry King is one of the finest gentlemen it has been my privilege to know. 

[Mike Irwin]

Most of us who cover high school and college sports teams have run into more than our share of interfering parents. In most cases a good rule of thumb is to steer clear of them unless it becomes a major issue.

It was very easy for Houston Nutt and his brother to convince the local and national media that the so called "haters to the north" were ruining his football team. What they were saying sounded so believable. Four and five star local kids coming in off a state championship team that was ranked 3 in the nation? Yeah, there's probably some egos there.

It was only when I started actually talking to some of the parents and observing their behavior over a period of time that I began to see holes in what the Nutt boys were saying behind the scenes. By that time they had convinced a boat load of influential boosters that Gus & the Springdale crowd were out of control.

For Harry and a lot others Frank had always been in control of stuff like this. If he thought there was a problem there was. Houston had Frank convinced so the rest of the local media bought into it except for Bo, Wally & me plus one or two others.

Nutt played this state like a traveling elixir salesman. Today he can't get a job. It was painful time but he was finally exposed.

Holding grudges is pointless. It's over.

[MuskogeeHogFan]

Most of us who cover high school and college sports teams have run into more than our share of interfering parents. In most cases a good rule of thumb is to steer clear of them unless it becomes a major issue.

It was very easy for Houston Nutt and his brother to convince the local and national media that the so called "haters to the north" were ruining his football team. What they were saying sounded so believable. Four and five star local kids coming in off a state championship team that was ranked 3 in the nation? Yeah, there's probably some egos there.

It was only when I started actually talking to some of the parents and observing their behavior over a period of time that I began to see holes in what the Nutt boys were saying behind the scenes. By that time they had convinced a boat load of influential boosters that Gus & the Springdale crowd were out of control.

For Harry and a lot others Frank had always been in control of stuff like this. If he thought there was a problem there was. Houston had Frank convinced so the rest of the local media bought into it except for Bo, Wally & me plus one or two others.

Nutt played this state like a traveling elixir salesman. Today he can't get a job. It was painful time but he was finally exposed.

Holding grudges is pointless. It's over.

Great post, Mike. If Nutt had a wagon and had traveled the West plying his wares to unsuspecting townsfolk in the late 1800's, he would have been an extremely successful snake oil salesman. Of course his wife would have taken a 2x4 to anyone who didn't buy what he was selling, so that would have helped his closing ratio significantly.

[Arky]

I really like reading Irwin's perspective.
Thanks Mike.

[Big Papa Satan]

Over time newspapers, from the national to even the local level, have become increasingly one-sided, out of touch, and utterly lacking in objectivity.  Because of this, as alternative news sources started to become available, people flocked to them. 

/thread

[bphi11ips]

A laughable and short-sighted analysis of the industry.

Newspapers are the only place left to find objectively reported news.

[bphi11ips]

Most of us who cover high school and college sports teams have run into more than our share of interfering parents. In most cases a good rule of thumb is to steer clear of them unless it becomes a major issue.

It was very easy for Houston Nutt and his brother to convince the local and national media that the so called "haters to the north" were ruining his football team. What they were saying sounded so believable. Four and five star local kids coming in off a state championship team that was ranked 3 in the nation? Yeah, there's probably some egos there.

It was only when I started actually talking to some of the parents and observing their behavior over a period of time that I began to see holes in what the Nutt boys were saying behind the scenes. By that time they had convinced a boat load of influential boosters that Gus & the Springdale crowd were out of control.

For Harry and a lot others Frank had always been in control of stuff like this. If he thought there was a problem there was. Houston had Frank convinced so the rest of the local media bought into it except for Bo, Wally & me plus one or two others.

Nutt played this state like a traveling elixir salesman. Today he can't get a job. It was painful time but he was finally exposed.

Holding grudges is pointless. It's over.

Wally didn't buy it because he knew the family. 

[Inhogswetrust]

Thanks Stephens . . . for another installment of "Descent into Darkness."

(It was pretty dark in your world already.)

You don't have to agree with everything Stephens has done, or any company for that matter, but it IS a business and sometimes tough decisions are made that affect peoples jobs. Having a corporation such as Stephens based in Arkansas is a good thing for the state.

[Inhogswetrust]

It always kills me how much the number of journalism experts outnumbers those who have actually been to journalism school or been trained in the business. All one needs is a computer and an email address so you can log into a message board to enlighten the ignorant masses.

Even more amazing is all the top level so-called coaching experts out there.

[Hogchick]

Whoever said Harry King can be a "pompous ass" is either the biggest idiot in the state or the biggest liar. Or both. Because that statement could not possibly be any further from the truth.

^^^^ this
Could not agree more Scott.

[bphi11ips]

You forgot the sarcasm button.  (I hope.)

Absolutely not.  Do you see any headlines here posed as questions:

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/fronts/HOME?SITE=AP

?

Hard news is a thing of the past.  At least for now.  It's boring (/sarcasm). 

Print is still the closest thing to real news available. 

[WILL CLINTON]

Absolutely not.  Do you see any headlines here posed as questions:

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/fronts/HOME?SITE=AP

?

Hard news is a thing of the past.  At least for now.  It's boring (/sarcasm). 

Print is still the closest thing to real news available. 

I think I may be confused as to what you mean. How is print any different than reading the same thing on a website? Print newspapers are going the way of Pepsi Clear and Coke Classic. Embrace the digital.

[DeltaBoy]

I hope Harry keeps writing for the Fort Smith Paper and covering the Hogs,  He is the last of a Generation of Great Sports Writers.

[dj shanon "Notshavin" smeya]

I figure it has more to do with the fact that newspapers are kind of going the way of the beta max and phone books, no one uses them anymore.

LOL "beta max".  I bet half the posters on this site don't even know what that is.

Nice

[AlmaHog2011]

Harry would never refer to the UA as "we." Also, the tone was joking - not being serious.

I have no idea what kind of guy the man was. I read his article because honestly the SWTR does a poor job covering the Hogs. His column could take anything positive at Arkansas and turn it into a negative. You can say great journalist if you want. He's been around forever so someone liked him. Hate to see anyone lose a job! But he needed to cover something other than Arkansas sports. And I am sure he never said we when it came to the Razorbacks. And we Hogfans are fine with that. It's not a badge of honor like you think.

[AlmaHog2011]

Robbie Neiswanger does an excellent job covering the UA (he won the Arkansas Sportswriter of the Year Award from a national organization). He's only one man though, competing against the ADG's duo of Holt and Murphy. That said, if you've got any suggestions for what you'd like to see more of in the paper, please let me know.

More stories about current hog football players would be nice. I love the HS coverage, it's the only reason I have kept my script for over 20 years.
Maybe a Razorback section like the ADG would be good.

[bphi11ips]

LOL "beta max".  I bet half the posters on this site don't even know what that is.

Nice

Were they before or after 8-tracks?

[bphi11ips]

Which is a commentary on the decline of newspapers - the fact that no one (no entity) undertakes serious journalism anymore (meaning investigative) is what allows the power elites to control even more of the message being 'broadcast' these days (via whatever medium). 

My point of contention with you is that newspapers - especially locals - long ago gave up any desire for pursuing stories when paper after paper was purchased by corporate entities and the lifeblood of advertising revenue was infected with the disease of corporate special interest.

Newspapers are the easiest communication medium to control for the corporate powers - a point which is reflected on the lack of oversight in several areas of society today.   

I have always viewed major newspapers' primary role as providing important news to the public on a timely basis from an objective viewpoint.  A secondary role is balanced, educated op-ed pieces.  Investgative journalism exposing the corruption of corporate America has not been high on my list of the functions of a good newspaper.  That may be high on Gannett's list, but it wasn't on Walter Hussman's.  He would rather accurately report corruption after it has been uncovered by a credible third party source.  A newspaper reports the news.  It doesn't create it.

The decline of quality news reporting is a symptom of an emerging generation with little interest in hard news.  The news doesn't affect them, so why should they care what's going on today in the Ukraine?