An old-fashioned view of stock listings, section-front ads

I spent a couple of hours today with Walter E. Hussman Jr., the publisher of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette in Little Rock, who was visiting Chapel Hill.

Hussman spoke to some Economics Reporting students, and he made mention of what his paper’s plans were regarding its stock listings, which many newspapers have cut or eliminated this year, and placing ads on the front page of the section fronts, including the business section, which some newspapers have started doing to raise additional revenue.

In terms of stock listings, Hussman said his paper had no plans to cut them. “I have a problem with that,” he said. “Why do we give our readers another reason not to read the paper?” He questioned why a national newspaper such as the New York Times would cut stock listings when another national newspaper, USA Today, hasn’t done the same thing.

In terms of placing ads on section fronts, Hussman, who started his career as a reporter for Forbes, said his paper wouldn’t do this either. “I believe that space should be reserved for editorial content,” he said.

Hussman also notes that his paper’s reporters and editors do not write blogs. Their focus is on providing content for the newspaper.

Before anyone thinks that Hussman’s hand might be forced by the CEO of a parent company that owns the paper, the owner of the Little Rock paper is Wehco Media Inc., and Hussman is the president and CEO of the company.