{"id":8360,"date":"2026-04-22T11:11:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T16:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/?p=8360"},"modified":"2026-04-23T14:01:38","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T19:01:38","slug":"good-news-is-no-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2026\/04\/good-news-is-no-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Good News Is No News"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

An Editor\u2019s Note<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It’s obvious that I’m a news hound, and there’s certainly no shortage of news in FaySpRogVille (a portmanteau of Northwest Arkansas’s four main cities). Throughout the areas news media, coverage of the University of Arkansas naturally stays prominent, not only because it’s one of the largest employers of the Ozarks but simply being a pillar of what makes us, us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s the flagship campus of the U of A System with the most students and in recent years displays a top R1 rating<\/a> for “Very High Research Spending and Doctorate Production.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, it was surprising that the campus on Wednesday, April 15, was favored with an unusually large number of articles. Excluding sports, count the headlines from that day’s Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette<\/em>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. “New Proposal Targets King Fahd Center; Amendment to Bill Would Defund Middle East Studies”<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. AG to Appeal Ten Commandment (sic) Ruling”<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. “Man Admits to Attempted (2021) Rape of UA Student … Gets 60-Year Sentence”<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. “‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ Author Talks Writing”<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. “Professor Facing Termination Files Civil Rights Suit against UA”<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Roughly, Wednesday’s coverage parallels how the UA has been faring this decade. Bruising, eh?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The coverage midweek from local TV stations and other credible information media besides the Demzette \u2013 KUAF Public Radio, the Arkansas Times, Arkansas Advocate, Axios NW Arkansas, the campus Arkansas Traveler and Fayetteville Flyer \u2013 was comparable. (Note that outlets set up limitations such as KUAF rarely covers spot news while the Flyer focuses on the one city.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    For so-called good news, check out University of Arkansas News<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The best way to address this \u2013 speaking as a longtime editor who taught a few semesters of journalism here \u2013 is broadly: News is not the cynical “if it bleeds it leads” grabbing people’s fascination with scandal and disaster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    What it is: News is what’s new. Period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    We expect the university to do its job. We expect reasonable rates of successes, because that’s what all of us at every level in this state are paying for, in various ways. The fact “good news” doesn’t make big or at times any headlines is ironically proof that the UA succeeds in most ways. These achievements are not news.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    That makes the ugly stories stand out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Article 4 though is good news, as a “news is what’s new.” This is the first visit to Arkansas by 86-year-old Canadian Margaret Atwood, prize-winning author of more than 66 books.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ears of writers among the roughly 1,100 in the audience perked up when the interviewer let Atwood talk about craft instead of several questions about the video adaptation of the headlined novel:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    “There’s four combinations of people. This isn’t just for books. It’s for real life, too.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    “There’s ordinary people in ordinary times. There’s extraordinary people in ordinary times \u2013 usually thought of as weirdos. There’s ordinary people in extraordinary times, and there’s extraordinary people in extraordinary times. And the kind of ones I’m interested in are ordinary people in extraordinary times, which often transforms ordinary people into extraordinary people, because they come up to the moment as it were.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    “So in really turbulent times, a lot of people are mostly interested in keeping their heads down and not falling victim to the times. Then there are other people who take another position, which is usually ‘I’m going to join the underground’ in some form or other.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Authors turn ordinary characters extraordinary. In real life, we choose for ourselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00a9 2026 Ben S. Pollock<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    This column, before slight edits, first was published in the April 2026 newsletter of UA-Fayetteville Education Association \/ Local 965<\/a>, of which Ben Pollock serves as 2023-2026 vice president.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    An Editor\u2019s Note It’s obvious that I’m a news hound, and there’s certainly no shortage of news in FaySpRogVille (a portmanteau of Northwest Arkansas’s four main cities). Throughout the areas news media, coverage of the University of Arkansas naturally stays prominent, not only because it’s one of the largest employers of the Ozarks but simply […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8359,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education-coarsely"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/Canadian-newspaper-boxes-16x9-1.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5214,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2015\/09\/throwing-drones-for-a-loop\/","url_meta":{"origin":8360,"position":0},"title":"Throwing Drones for a Loop","author":"Ben S. 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Pollock","date":"January 21, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"For a year, most Ivy League schools plus a few public universities like Virginia have been pressured directly by the Trump administration. For the University of Arkansas, Trump's impact has been serious but less direct - mainly threats of federal budget cuts to research, scholarship and other grants, and also\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News, Spin"","block_context":{"text":"News, Spin","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/news-spin\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Following a march through the University of Arkansas campus Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026, UA Law students and supporters gathered for a rally.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/UA-Law-students-rally-012026.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/UA-Law-students-rally-012026.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/UA-Law-students-rally-012026.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/UA-Law-students-rally-012026.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/UA-Law-students-rally-012026.jpeg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/UA-Law-students-rally-012026.jpeg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2679,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2011\/02\/stones-throw-from-campus\/","url_meta":{"origin":8360,"position":3},"title":"Stone’s Throw from Campus","author":"Ben S. 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Pollock","date":"November 15, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Monday night, according to each of the area newspapers, the Fayetteville School Board met in workshop formation and apparently informally agreed with the recommendation of Superintendent Bobby New about the best solution for the ever-more-crowded Fayetteville High School. He favors building on to the current facility. He said a second\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Education, Coarsely"","block_context":{"text":"Education, Coarsely","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/education-coarsely\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7515,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2023\/04\/university-of-phoenix\/","url_meta":{"origin":8360,"position":5},"title":"Root for the Phightin’ Phoenices to Roost in Arkansas","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"April 22, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"DATELINE MIRTHOLOGY \u2014 We, the Campus Welcoming Committee of the University of Arkansas System, would like to extend a hand or rather wing to our newest school, the University of Phoenix. As the UA System Board of Trustees has not yet voted on the adoption of this virtual campus, we\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Education, Coarsely"","block_context":{"text":"Education, Coarsely","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/education-coarsely\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Illustration of a comical phoenix and pig","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/cartoonish-phoenix-and-hog.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/cartoonish-phoenix-and-hog.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/cartoonish-phoenix-and-hog.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/cartoonish-phoenix-and-hog.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/cartoonish-phoenix-and-hog.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/cartoonish-phoenix-and-hog.png?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8360","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8360"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8360\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8368,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8360\/revisions\/8368"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}