[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 158 (Thursday, September 29, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Page S5529]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       REMEMBERING JOHN B. GAINES

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, the Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame 
recently announced its 42nd class of inductees, adding eight new 
members to a list of distinguished journalists, including Pulitzer 
Prize winners and broadcasters who have become household names. John B. 
Gaines, the former publisher of the Bowling Green Daily News, was one 
of this year's posthumous additions. Today, I ask my colleagues to join 
me in honoring John's induction into the Hall of Fame and remembering 
the deep mark he left on Kentucky print journalism.
  John and I met through his role on the Bowling Green Daily News 
editorial board, where he helped craft opinion pieces that shaped the 
political outlook of generations of Kentuckians. During my earliest 
runs for statewide office, I knew how important it was for me to meet 
with John and his team of writers. Luckily, John and I tended to agree 
on most issues and became fast friends.
  John was a member of the Gaines family, one of Bowling Green's most 
prominent and, until this year, the owners of the Daily News for five 
generations. He understood the deep importance of his family to Bowling 
Green's civic life, leveraging his role at the Daily News to bring 
public attention to critical local issues and fostering homegrown 
journalistic talent as President of the Kentucky Press Association. He 
was also a fierce advocate for government transparency and helped open 
the halls of Kentucky government more widely to reporters and, by 
extension, to everyday Kentuckians.
  To honor John Gaines' induction into the Journalism Hall of Fame, his 
son Pipes Gaines delivered remarks at a reception in Lexington, KY. 
Pipes remembered his father's ``love of facts'' and his pursuit of them 
``without fear or favor.'' I remember John's love for facts, as well, 
and his earnest belief that unvarnished, unbiased coverage of political 
issues would always illuminate Kentucky's government better than 
slanted reporting.
  I thank John and the entire Gaines family for their stewardship of 
one of the Commonwealth's finest newspapers and for their service to 
their Bowling Green readers. Even more than a decade after John's 
passing, his legacy continues to reverberate around the Commonwealth.
  The Bowling Green Daily News paid tribute to John Gaines' induction 
into the Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame in a recent article. I ask 
unanimous consent that the article be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

        [From the Bowling Green Daily News, September 25, 2022]

 ``The Late John B. Gaines, 7 Others Inducted into Journalism Hall of 
                                 Fame''

  John B. Gaines, longtime publisher of the Bowling Green Daily News, 
was posthumously inducted into the Kentucky Journalism hall of fame 
Thursday evening in Lexington.
  At a reception honoring the eight inductees of the 42nd Hall of Fame 
class, Pipes Gaines spoke of his father's commitment to journalism, 
specifically of the Daily News' duty to the community it served. ``One 
characteristic which I believe made him an outstanding journalist was 
his love of facts--printed facts in particular,'' Gaines said. ``He 
expected the newsroom to pursue the facts and report them accurately 
without fear or favor. This kind of journalism was not always popular 
with people or groups with power and influence.''
  Along with the late John B. Gaines, the Hall of Fame Class of 2022 
includes J. Scott Applewhite of The Associated Press, Jerry Brewer of 
The Washington Post. the late Melissa Forsythe of WHAS-TV, the late 
Bill Mardis of the Somerset Commonwealth Journal, Mark Maynard of 
Kentucky Today, writing coach and retired editor Stuart Warner and 
Deborah Yetter of The Courier-Journal.
  The reception was held in the Gatton Student Center's Grand Ballroom 
on the University of Kentucky campus. The Kentucky Journalism Hall of 
Fame, founded by the UK Journalism Alumni Association in 1981, honors 
journalists who are Kentucky natives or have spent a significant 
portion of their careers working for Kentucky news media organizations.
  The late John B. Gaines, who died in 2007 at age 92, spent six 
decades at the helm of the Daily News. He was influential in the 
community, writing editorials in support of a countywide library tax, 
creation of an airport and the banning of prohibition in Bowling Green 
in 1958. It was later repealed in 1960.
  The elder Gaines was ``extremely passionate about transparency in 
government and a local champion of open meetings and open records,'' 
according to his son.
  John B. Gaines was active in Kentucky journalism through his 
leadership as a board member and later president of the Kentucky Press 
Association. He served two terms on the board of the Southern Newspaper 
Publishers Association, which merged with the Inland Press Association 
in 2019, to create a new association--America's Newspapers.
  He also supported young, aspiring reporters through a scholarship 
fund for journalists at Western Kentucky University and was 
instrumental in establishing the Gaines Family Lecture Series that 
highlights speakers that have achieved distinction in journalism.
  The professionalism and integrity of John B. Gaines was also 
appreciated by one of Bowling Green's longest-serving politicians.
  In an earlier story about John B. Gaines published in the Daily News 
written by Don Sergent, Jody Richards, who spent 43 years representing 
the Bowling Green area in the Kentucky General Assembly, called John B. 
Gaines ``an excellent newspaperman and tremendous businessman.''
  ``The thing I remember about him is that he fought hard for freedom 
of the press and the people's right to know,'' said Richards, a former 
journalism instructor at Western Kentucky University. ``That's an issue 
that people always have to fight for.''

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