Joseph H. Weston

Who was Joseph H. Weston?

Joseph H. Weston was a controversial newspaper editor in Cave City in Sharp County in northern Arkansas, whose work led to a change in his state's libel law.

In 1974, Weston was convicted of criminal libel for an article in his mimeographed newspaper about a sheriff. The Arkansas Supreme Court overturned a jail sentence and a fine on grounds that the state libel law failed to include truth as a defense or to require proof of malice in the case of false statements about public officials. The Weston case is similar to a 1931 issue before the United States Supreme Court -- Near v. Minnesota -- in which the tribunal forbade Minnesota officials from closing the unpopular newspaper of the editor Jay M. Near.

Weston, who called himself "Editor Weston", was a maverick Republican who in 1974 and 1976 sought nomination for governor of Arkansas. In 1974, he opposed the party's consensus choice of Ken Coon, its losing candidate for lieutenant governor in 1972 on the ticket headed by Len Blaylock of Perry County. Republicans tried to keep Weston off the state ballot on grounds that he was not a "registered" Republican.