'Knowing is better than not knowing:' Bill Clinton on 200 years of the Arkansas Gazette

President Bill Clinton spoke to a large crowd at a banquet for the 200 year anniversary of the Arkansas Gazette at the Statehouse Convention Center on Thursday evening. Clinton reflected on the history of the paper, the importance of newspapers to the future of democracy and the vastness of outer space.

Rex Nelson, senior editor of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, opened the event, and journalist Ernie Dumas, who co-chaired the celebration’s planning committee, spoke about the winding history of the Gazette and its influence in Arkansas.

Dumas introduced Walter Hussman, publisher of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette since he bought the Gazette in 1991 after a lengthy newspaper war with the Arkansas Democrat. Hussman remarked on the legacy of the Gazette and its employees.

“Arkansans can be proud of a tradition of good journalism in Arkansas, and it was the Arkansas Gazette that set that standard,” Hussman said. “So we are in debt to a lot of great men and women whose great calling and passion was great journalism. Tonight, we celebrate them and their newspaper as we embark on the third century of newspaper publishing in Arkansas.”

Read more: https://arktimes.com/arkansas-blog/2019/11/21/knowing-is-better-than-not-knowing-bill-clinton-on-200-years-of-the-arkansas-gazette