Longtime journalist inducted in Great Plains Hall of Fame

Brenda Blagg
Brenda Blagg

Brenda Blagg, longtime journalist in Northwest Arkansas, was inducted into the inaugural class of the Great Plains Journalism Hall of Fame.

The Great Plains Journalism competition is held annually by the Tulsa Press Club. The regional journalism contest draws entries from eight states -- Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma and South Dakota.

Blagg began her journalism career in Arkansas in 1970. She worked for decades at the Springdale News (later called The Morning News of Northwest Arkansas, which was eventually merged into the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette).

She built a significant and impactful journalism career, covering Washington County government, the environment and state and local politics and many other topics.

In 1979, she began distributing a weekly political column statewide. That column, "Between the Lines," still appears in several newspapers across Arkansas, including the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

Blagg gained a reputation as a strong defender of Arkansas' Freedom of Information Act, in both print and action. She has twice been given the Arkansas Press Association's FOI Award.

In 1991, Blagg went to New Hampshire to provide local coverage of the presidential campaign of Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton. She followed the famed "Arkansas Travelers," a group of Arkansans who rolled across the New England state to campaign for their favorite son. Blagg produced a book, "Political Magic: The Travels, Trials and Triumphs of the Clintons' Arkansas Travelers," based on that experience.

The other Hall of Fame inductees Thursday evening were Susan Ellerbach of the Tulsa World, Kelly Dyer Fry of The Oklahoman, Michael Kelly of the Omaha World-Herald and Jim Langdon of Langdon Publishing.

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