Garner nominated for journalism boards
SKYE POURNAZARI/THE FORUM
EDITORIAL MUG: Ken Garner
MARYVILLE, Mo. — Ken Garner, who owns and publishes the Maryville Forum and Grant City Times-Tribune along with his wife, Traci, has been nominated to the boards of directors of the Missouri Press Association and the International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors.
The MPA is the largest organization of newspaper journalists in the state.
Garner said he looks forward to providing representation for northwest Missouri in the statewide organization.
“If you look historically, the Northwest Missouri Press Association was one of the strongest in the state,” he said. “Right now, it’s inactive. And we’re working on trying to get that back going again.
“But I think on the statewide level, we have different concerns up here in northwest Missouri than people do down in the bootheel or down around Springfield. Some of our struggles and … some of the issues that we follow are unique to us. And I think it’s important to represent those interests (in) the state organization.”
Garner will begin a one-year term on the MPA board as treasurer on Jan. 1.
ISWNE is an international organization that includes members from more than 30 countries, including the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, Mongolia and Nepal.
Garner was named to the board at the organization’s conference in June and will serve a term that expires in June 2026.
He said that the organization has a heavy focus on editorial pages and serving as a voice for smaller communities that have seen the quantity and quality of local journalism decline globally.
“We’re very fortunate we have as many newspapers as we do (in northwest Missouri), but across the nation and across the world there are a lot of news deserts,” Garner said. “And it’s even more important now with those news deserts that newspapers have a voice, that they be the champion for their communities.
“Now, that doesn’t mean cheerleading. It means being a champion through the editorial pages for our communities and pointing out the great things, the not-so-great things and all that lies in between — and informing the public, letting them know that we are watching out for their interest.”
