He’s a Kansas journalism icon. He’s written more than 2,000 stories for us. He’s Tim Carpenter.

Kansas Reflector senior reporter Tim Carpenter was inducted into the Kansas Newspaper Hall of Fame on Thursday. (Photo by Morgan Chilson/Kansas Reflector)

Journalists work in a persistent present.

When news happens, which it does all day every day, they gird themselves to report and write a story. If they finish an in-depth project or especially artful investigation, they are allowed to luxuriate in their achievement for a few minutes before an editor inquires: “What do you have for me today?”

I’m not asking for anyone’s pity. Journalists either enjoy or grudgingly accept this reality, depending on temperament. But it’s also why the induction of Kansas Reflector senior reporter Tim Carpenter into the Kansas Press Association’s Newspaper Hall of Fame on Thursday was so deeply jarring. You see, I don’t think of Tim as a Hall of Famer. I don’t think of him as a portrait on a wall alongside other Kansas journalism greats like William Allen White, Rolla Clymer, and four generations of Scotts and Lynns at The Iola Register.

I think of Tim as a damn fine reporter who’s going to uncover something today. And tomorrow, if we’re lucky. He’s rock solid. He’s tenacious.

And he never stops writing stories.

@ksreflectorKansas Reflector senior reporter Tim Carpenter was inducted into the Kansas Newspaper Hall of Fame on Nov. 13, 2025. His 40-year career has been spent fighting corruption, holding politicians accountable and being dedicated to the finest principles of journalism. #Kansas #firstamendment♬ original sound – Kansas Reflector

Tim lives and works in the present. I don’t want to think of him as a relic of the past. Just this week, the same week that he was inducted into the Hall of Fame, Tim has written five stories. He covered the response of Kansas senators and representatives in Washington, D.C., to the end of the longest shutdown on record. He followed up on fallout from former Beneficient CEO Brad Heppner’s indictment. Just to top things off, he covered multiple sets of findings  from state auditors.

This is not a man who rests on his laurels. This is a man who doesn’t know what laurels are.

Let’s talk numbers for a second. This column counts as my 484th piece since beginning at the Reflector in August 2021. That sounds impressive enough, and I occasionally share my tally to impress others. But Tim, who has been present since the Reflector’s founding in July 2020, has written an astonishing 2,248 stories.

All of this has only been the latest act of a distinguished career. Here’s where the history comes in, the looking back, which I’m sure makes him feel a bit uncomfortable. Tim attended Kansas State  University, then worked at United Press International. He followed up with stints at the Lawrence Journal-World and The Topeka Capital-Journal, where Reflector editor Sherman Smith and I both came to know him.

What’s Tim Carpenter like? He’s just “Carp,” to use the nickname that so many have employed over the years.

He’s the kind of dedicated professional you would hope. He carries a healthy skepticism of editors, no doubt forged from decades of battling them to protect his reporting. He has a dry sense of humor, a library of extraordinary anecdotes (seriously, ask him about the voodoo priestess) and an uneasy relationship with technology that hasn’t prevented him from prolifically posting TikTok videos.

Most of all, though, Tim cares.

He cares about the art and craft of journalism. He cares about his family. He cares about the state of Kansas.

While I have known many gifted writers and reporters, none have matched Tim’s ferocious caring. When Sherman Smith takes an all-too-rare vacation from his duties as editor, I fill in as best I can. When I call Tim to ask what he’s working on, I know he will share an array of potential stories with an excitement and energy that puts colleagues 40 years his junior to shame. Sorry, kids, that’s just the truth,

As he said to the crowd gathered in Topeka: “Almost everything that I treasure in life came from journalism. My family, a career, a path. When I looked at the people in the hall of fame, I saw a bunch of names I recognized. I worked with, competed against, learned from about two dozen of those people, and I’m just really honored to be part of the group.”

Over my career, I’ve come to recognize that a precious few people are born to be journalists. They are born to be reporters. They are born to do this work.

Tim Carpenter is one of those people.

Kansas is lucky to have him. Kansas Reflector readers are lucky to have him. Congratulations to the Kansas Newspaper Hall of Fame’s latest, most deserving member.

Opinion editor’s note: You may ask why I’m not writing about Reflector columnist Mark McCormick, who was also inducted into the hall of fame on Thursday. Hold your horses. I’ll get to him soon.

Clay Wirestone is Kansas Reflector opinion editor. Through its opinion section, Kansas Reflector works to amplify the voices of people who are affected by public policies or excluded from public debate. Find information, including how to submit your own commentary, here.