First of all: a big “thank you” to the 364 people who completed The Bentonville Bulletin’s recent reader survey.
(If you haven’t taken it already, you’ve missed your chance to be included in this summary of results — but you haven’t missed your chance to weigh in. The survey is still open.)
I founded The Bentonville Bulletin in 2024 to help fill gaps I saw in local news coverage.
But I’m just one guy, and I certainly don’t have all the answers. Your feedback is the best possible insight into what should come next.
What Readers Want From Local News
The survey asked: “What topics or issues do you think local news should cover more?”
While the question was open-ended, some common themes showed up in responses.
Here are the most common topics and the share of responses that mentioned them:
Local government — 30%
Events, activities and things to do — 27%
Infrastructure/road project updates — 20%
Local economy/business openings and closings — 18%
I was encouraged to see that many of the topics readers suggested are ones The Bentonville Bulletin already covers. That tells me there’s an opportunity to do more — and do it better.
Some less frequently suggested topics, such as restaurant reviews and sports, are areas I’m not sure The Bentonville Bulletin will be able to expand into in the near term, given the limits of resources and size of the team (me and a few freelance writers).
Describing The Bentonville Bulletin
The survey also asked readers how they would describe The Bentonville Bulletin to a friend.
Most answers were pretty straightforward. The most common words people used were “local,” “news,” and “Bentonville,” which makes a lot of sense.
A few responses that stood out:
“Honest hometown news coverage”
“New, fresh eyes letting Bentonville residents know more of all that’s going on.”
“Bentonville news that you don't find elsewhere”
“An alternative to corporate news”
Here’s a word cloud made from all of the responses:
Trust Issues
The survey included questions designed to determine how much folks trust local government, public schools, and local news outlets.
To the extent that it was relevant to local news efforts, I was interested in getting some sense of how we might compare to national polling, which shows declining trust in, well, pretty much everything. Reports from the Pew Research Center show falling confidence in public education, churches, news organizations, all levels of government, and even our neighbors.
Here are those results:
How much do you trust local government to spend public money wisely and make good decisions for the community?
How much do you trust the local public school system to do what’s right for students, use its funds responsibly, and serve the community’s best interests?
How much do you trust local news organizations – such as TV stations, newspapers, and online news sites – to report the news accurately, fairly, and ethically?
About 40% of respondents said they either had “not much” or “no trust at all” in local news organizations.
While many people don’t trust local news outlets in general, I’m willing to bet many of those folks would trust an individual news source if it did things differently.
A few factors that I think are key to building that trust:
Consistency. The Bentonville Bulletin has only been around for two years now. Building trust takes time.
Transparency and clear values. The Bentonville Bulletin’s core values are posted on the “about” page of the website. Many news outlets don't do this, which I think is strange.
Familiarity. Most people have never met a local journalist, which means pop culture references and secondhand experiences largely shape how people perceive them. I can assure you: my life is nothing like the movies. I try to go to as many community events as I can so I can meet people, and I have a branded hat that I wear. If I haven’t met you yet, I would like to one day.
I’m grateful for all the thoughts that were shared, but there are a few survey responses I’d like to respond to directly.
“Spread out news to other communities within a 20 mile radius of Bentonville”
I’d like to expand coverage to the greater Bentonville area, including Bella Vista and Centerton. But due to limited resources, there are no immediate plans to do so.
I often point folks to NWA Daily, an aggregated email newsletter that compiles updates from a variety of sources across the broader Northwest Arkansas region.
“Would like to see a centralized calendar of activities that you are tracking. Makes it easier to go to BVBulletin.com and see a rundown on events on a weekly, monthly or quarterly basis.”
Once upon a time, The Bentonville Bulletin had an interactive events calendar. It was a nightmare to maintain, so it was discontinued last year. However, you can find monthly event roundup posts here.
“I’m surprised so many people I talk with aren’t aware that the city has an email system you can sign up for with agendas and minutes from planning commission, city council, etc. Y’all might say something about that sometime.”
Indeed! I would like to take this opportunity to say that the city has an email system that sends alerts when agendas are posted for the planning commission, city council, and other city boards.
“Tougher questions to Arkansas’ federal lawmakers. What are your ideas to protect our constitutional laws, etc.”
The Bentonville Bulletin is all about zooming in on what’s happening locally, so I do not expect this to ever be an area of focused attention here.
“An open letter site would be good. Kinda like a respective place for folks to share ideas and feelings I.e. (Ann landers, dear Abby)…..you get the picture.”
Hmm. I’ll put it on the list of ideas for the future, but there are no immediate plans to add opinion content.
