Commentary: A balancing act: Daily News straddling print and digital divide

Throughout our 113-year history on the Palouse, the Moscow-Pullman Daily News has encountered plenty of twists and turns.

And today we’re forced to negotiate between tradition and the digital age.

We got our start as a weekly newspaper Sept. 28, 1911, and today’s journey is calling for a return closer to our roots.

Starting May 16, the Daily News will transition from its current five-day-a-week print schedule to a biweekly format, available exclusively on Thursdays and Saturdays. Additionally, we’re shifting gears from carrier delivery service to mail.

That’s the trend across the United States: fewer publication days and a shift toward providing real-time, daily digital coverage through our website, daily newsletters and mobile app.

Economics are the reason, plain and simple. The entire news industry — newspaper, radio and television — is being gutted by economic disruption, big box store closures, and unprecedented labor and raw material inflation.

As mentioned in my September column, “Daily News not immune from aches and pains of changing time,” the Daily News faces the same pressure.

But we wanted to give you — our bosses — a heads-up.

It’s a significant change. We understand.

And our news, sports reporting, photography, event coverage, legislative updates, regular features, and marketing team will remain unchanged.

That’s in the talented hands of Emily Pearce, who covers Whitman County and the city of Pullman; Anthony Kuipers, Latah County and city of Moscow reporter; photographer Liesbeth Powers; Inland 360 Editor Mary Stone; Idaho statehouse reporter Laura Guido; health care reporter Rachel Sun (in partnership with Northwest Public Broadcasting); and our stable of sports staff writers Matthew Strissel, Stephan Wiebe, Trevan Pixley, Teren Kowatsch and Cody Wendt. Marketing consultant Lisa Smith-Horner and digital marketing specialist Kaitlyn Hinkley are also key co-workers.

That’s 13 dedicated staff, and essential jobs, serving you who live, work and play in our towns.

The difference will be that daily coverage will be posted to our website and digital platforms each day and collectively featured in what interim Managing Editor Matt Baney is calling “power packed” Thursday and Saturday print editions.

We’re asking for your patience as the dust settles through the coming change in mid-May.

It’s important we stick together.

More than two newspapers are disappearing every week in the United States, according to a report by Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism.

The reason our Daily News — and comparatively robust news staff — remains on the active list of 1,230 daily newspapers still publishing across the country?

It’s you — our readers and our advertisers.

We have a dedicated daily readership of some 12,000 across our mix of print and digital platforms, and support from our local businesses.

The Daily News, along with the Lewiston Tribune, sit as two of our nation’s last 86 independent and locally owned newspapers.

We’re not going anywhere, with your patience and continued support.

Our civic mindset distinguishes us from the vast majority of major newspaper chains.

We have a deep sense of responsibility to you and our broader community.

Here’s what’s at stake: There is all sorts of evidence across the country that bad things happen in communities without local news providers — decreased voter participation, limited access to crucial information about events and public happenings, less community cohesion, increased corruption in government and business, we all end up paying more in taxes, and even have more polarization and misinformation.

Our staff’s journalistic eyes and ears — a superpower, of sorts — is invaluable for keeping you and me informed and equipped to hold our elected city, county and state officials accountable. Transparency and accountability are essential to a thriving community.

We can’t do it without you.

Ironically, the free press isn’t free.

Thank you for making it possible.

The overarching message from our five “Save Local News” sessions last fall, including our gathering at Hunga Dunga Brewing Co., and the feedback from more than a hundred reader conversations and surveys, was clear: Local news is the driving force that keeps readers engaged, and transitioning to a digital-first approach complements our print offerings.

You — our subscribers and advertisers — will be hearing from us over the coming weeks, too, with either a phone call, email and another column or two like this one to make sure you have a username and password to access our digital editions at your convenience, 24/7.

No questions will go unanswered.

In the meantime, I have two requests: One, use your smartphone camera to scan the accompanying QR codes to download our free Apple and Android Daily News app and daily newsletter. They’re easy-reading, and the push notifications are a great complement to print. There’s also a QR code that will lead to our subscription page.

And, two, give me a call.

I’d love to hear your suggestions and feedback.

Or better yet, let me pour you a cup of coffee in Lewiston and give you a tour of our state-of-the-art print facility, and offer a close-up look at our out-of-the-box new business divisions we’ve been tirelessly building over the last six years, all aimed at providing alternative funding to continue our long-held journalistic mission.

With your continued support, we can continue to provide a bright example of how a community that sticks together can find the balance between legacy traditions and the new digital world.

The one constant — regardless of the balance between printed pages and webpages — is quality journalism.

We’re betting on independent journalism: free of favor and government control, about real people and real issues.

Stay tuned for more updates.

Alford is editor and publisher of the Moscow-Pullman Daily News and Lewiston Tribune. He can be reached at alford@dnews.com or (208) 848-2208.