May 22, 2025 Issue
This week's issue includes stories on the MONITOR-Leader-Advocate's Paula Barnett, the Tri-State Press Convention and an obituary for Arkansas Democrat Gazette columnist Mike Masterson.
Paula Barnett finds ‘the rewards are many’ in 35-year career at MONITOR-Leader-Advocate
Newspapers in rural areas face major survival challenges in Arkansas and across the nation. Paula Barnett, publisher of the Woodruff County MONITOR-Leader-Advocate in McCrory, has devoted 35 years of her life meeting those tests while providing a continuing voice for her community.
It often takes real ingenuity to keep a small-town publication going, and Barnett and her advertising manager, Jo Ann Creasey, have displayed such creativity as they keep their readers informed each week with the newspaper and its sister product, My Town.
Barnett, facing economic challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic, made the decision to shut down the print version of the MONITOR in 2020 and move to online publication. At the same time, she felt compelled to close their office in downtown McCrory and begin working from home.
“Social media has changed newspapers more than anything I know,” Barnett said in explaining one of the factors involved in the cost-saving measures. “Subscribers are loyal, but advertising has fallen off more and more.”
The online publication has been successful, keeping readers in Woodruff County (and around the country) informed each week.
But there was to be a follow-up step that has helped make for a more comprehensive newspaper presence in the area. “We continued to provide news and had many subscribers, but people kept begging for a print issue,” Barnett said. “In 2023, with the help of a grant from the Woodruff County Economic Development Commission, we purchased a commercial printer and began printing on 11 by 17 paper.
“The Arkansas Press Association was a huge help as we started a new paper, My Town, that is composed of some content from the MONITOR and some all its own, though readers often call it the mini-MONITOR. The e-edition and the print edition carry mainly local news, which is what readers want. It makes me feel good when someone shares a photo on Facebook of something that was in the MONITOR about their child or grandchild. It’s just special when it’s in the newspaper.”
The publications usually run six pages but run larger at times with special sections. Creasey prints the newspaper at her home and she and Barnett distribute it to locations at stores in McCrory and Augusta.
“Woodruff County has lost many businesses over the years but it keeps going on and I keep reporting the news of its struggles and triumphs,” Barnett said. “That is what people want to read. Not what happened at the Arkansas State Capitol or the White House. They can get that on the TV or the internet. But where else will they find out what happened at the Augusta City Council or when the MosquitoFest will be held.
“They like the Cooking Corner and Miss Peggy’s sweet column. Sometimes I think it’s time to quit, just fold up and retire, but then I think of why I do this. It’s because the people have a right to know. How else will they know what is going on in their towns and their counties if we don’t tell them. The greatest challenge to small newspapers is the lack of advertising. The Arkansas Press Association helps with that by lobbying for newspapers to continue running legals. Right now, they are our lifeblood.”
Barnett got involved with the newspaper business through her love of writing and history. She submitted an article in 1990 to the MONITOR on Arkansas history, a subject she came to love through researching for the books and short stories she had been writing. The newspaper’s editor, Bill Riddle, liked the article, called it “Arkansas Past,” and it ran for several years.
From that start, Barnett began working in the mail room and cleaning the office. That progressed to developing film in the darkroom and writing news articles. In April 1995, publisher Katie Jacques took over the Brinkley Argus and asked the newspaper’s owners to make Barnett her replacement.
“I knew next to nothing about doing a newspaper,” Barnett said, “but I was forced to learn fast, as the next month, the MONITOR purchased the other two newspapers in the county, the McCrory Leader and the Augusta Advocate.”
Barnett credits Riddle and one of the owners, Jan Thompson, with helping her through the challenging period. “But most of what I learned (and am still learning) were trial and error, lots of error, and much reading,” she said. “Thirty-five years later, I am still at it, and I love my job.”
In her early days, the MONITOR’s operations were in a big downtown office that had been a tractor shop. There was plenty of room to work, but it was cold in winter and hot in the summer. The newspaper was printed at the time in Searcy. Barnett recalls the laborious tasks involving developing film and making prints, paste-up layout, border tape — and then labeling, inserting and bagging the printed product.
The newspaper moved to a new office in 2012, a building in earlier years occupied by the Arkansas Central Leader, predecessor to the McCrory Leader. It was built in 1938 by Walter Raney, publisher of the Leader. “It was so full of history that I sometimes felt that Mr. Raney was standing looking over my shoulder,” Barnett said.
The MONITOR currently is owned by a corporation of Thompson and attorney Fletcher Lewis.
Barnett said the newspaper has had many great employees over the years, but her favorite was her older sister, Maryln Moody. “She started working for me as a typist late in 1995 and stayed with me until her health became bad and she had to go to assisted living. She died in 2021. It was quite an experience being my older sister’s boss. We had some quarrels, and I sometimes had to say ‘because I said do it that way,’ She grumbled, but she did it.”
The lasting importance of the work of a newspaper staff has not been lost on Barnett. “A gentleman once told me that I should always be aware that I am writing history. He said even though something might not seem all that important, if I don’t print it, it may be lost to history. I have never forgotten that. I also got a helping hand via phone (I never met her) from Dean Walls, publisher of the White River Journal in Des Arc. She gave me so much good advice.”
Barnett was born and raised in Woodruff County and has lived there her entire life. She graduated from Cotton Plant High School in 1968. “That was the end of my formal education, but if anyone asks, I tell them I am self-educated. Before computer days, if I wanted to learn something, I went to the library and carried home a stack of books.”
She married right out of high school and had a son in 1974 and another in 1978. She worked small jobs over the years of their childhoods, allowing her to be home as needed. “In 1981, I decided I wanted to be a writer,” Barnett said. “Off to the library I went. It took years of writing, mostly fiction, to get published but I kept at it and won several statewide writing contests.”
The next step was her visit to the MONITOR office with her history column and a long community newspaper career has ensued.
Barnett said most her time is spent with work, church and family. In addition to her sons, she has three step-children, “more grandchildren than I can count,” and five great-grandchildren. She and her husband Jerry have a camper at Heber Springs and enjoy going there when they can. Her husband works full-time at a seed company in Augusta.
Barnett also stays busy with the Woodruff County Historical Society, where she serves as editor. She researches history and ancestry and hopes to publish her “Arkansas Past” columns in a book.
“My life is very full and I thank God for each blessing,” Barnett said. “I am thankful that 35 years ago He put me in this job where the thanks are small but the rewards are many. I love knowing that I can and do make a difference.”
