Topic: Independent news reporting

Interview of Tim Carpenter, August 4, 2025

Interviewed by Jim McLean

In this 2025 interview, Tim Carpenter described how reporting from the Statehouse evolved over his almost 40-year career. The setting for the interview was the historic site, Red Rocks, which was the Emporia, KS home of renowned journalist William Allen White. Carpenter recalls that early in his career, reporters were given time for investigative reporting that informed the public about important issues. Today, due to drastic staff cuts, reporters often only are able to write about legislation after it has become law. He observed that that there has been a loss of an Show Moreopen leadership style and collegiality in the Statehouse, with some elected officials closing themselves off from the press and refusing to share information with the public -- while complaining about press coverage. Carpenter shared his concern that people only want “echo chambers” that tell them what they want to hear, and don’t distinguish between opinion pieces and factual reporting. In Carpenter’s words, “Now people are so combative they don’t even want to listen to other people’s ideas, and that’s to the detriment of all Kansans.”

Highlights -- short excerpts from the interview

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Interview of Sherman Smith, June 8, 2026

Interviewed by Jim McLean

In this 2026 interview of Sherman Smith, the editor-in-chief of the Kansas Reflector, Smith discussed a career in the evolving landscape of journalism in the early 21st Century. He recounted his observations of the newspaper industry’s transition from hard copy to digital media and his experience starting out in the early days of that transition at the Topeka Capital-Journal. Smith was in an excellent position from which to observe the changes that occurred in both reporting and the business model of local newspapers as he held various positions over a decade and a half at the Capital-Journal. Smith Show Moremoved from the for-profit to the non-profit news sector, founding the online-only Kansas Reflector in 2020 — a time when many traditional news organizations were in decline. He described the importance of reporting to citizens’ oversight of state government and the role now filled by non-profit, digital-only news media across the nation. Smith observed that the public continues to appreciate ethical investigative reporting that holds public figures accountable. In Smith’s words, “The appetite for quality journalism has not gone away. I think that gives me hope for the future.” Show Less