Commentary: Daily News not immune from aches and pains of changing times

Middle age, and a midlife crisis, are knocking on our front office doors.

It was the Moscow-Pullman Daily News’ 112th birthday Thursday, a quietly observed one.

Today’s Daily News had its start on Sept. 28, 1911, as the Daily Star-Mirror. In 1939, the succession was made to the unique name of the Daily Idahonian, its Idaho- and Moscow-based moniker for the next half-century. Lewiston-based Tribune Publishing Co. became a part-owner in 1967, and the Idahonian became the Moscow-Pullman Daily News in 1991, a reflection that the newspaper was for the two cities and region.

Family- and employee-owned TPC purchased the Daily News outright in 1998, and the afternoon newspaper was moved to morning delivery in 2009.

Newspapers have long been a lucrative business, supporting lines of staff and journalists, while also yielding profit.

Today? Not so. With middle age comes the midlife crisis.

To survive it, we’re asking you for help.

The entire news industry — newspapers, radio and television — is being gutted by economic disruption.

Since 2005, our country has lost more than a quarter of its daily and weekly newspapers — that’s some 2,500 newspapers — and we’re on track to lose another third by 2025, according to a report by Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism.

More than two newspapers are disappearing every week.

Of the 1,230 remaining dailies, the Daily News, along with the Lewiston Tribune, sit as two of our nation’s last 86 independent newspapers left in existence.

That’s a resource worthy of discussion, investment and protection.

According to the Medill report, communities without a credible news source are realizing decreased voter participation, increased corruption in both government and business, and residents end up paying more in taxes and at the checkout counter.

The fate of most newspapers is controlled by large chains.

We’re not interested in their playbook — deep staff cuts, corporate consolidation, selling to a hedge fund, or worse, shuttering the doors.

That isn’t good for anyone.

The Every-100-Year Rebuild

Instead, let’s explore what it would take to make our community newspapers the exception and devise solutions together to reinvent a new, durable, future-proof model for exceptional journalism.

Over the last five years, we’ve been hard at work — tirelessly rebuilding portions of our business model, bolstered by new digital initiatives and out-of-the box business divisions all aimed at funding our long-held journalistic mission.

But it’s not enough.

We’re coming up short.

Audience numbers aren’t the problem.

The Daily News is reaching nearly 12,500 readers every day across our growing mix of print and digital platforms. That’s in line with our historic average.

But many aren’t paying.

We need to provide an answer to the question: Why would I pay for local news when it’s free online?

The quick answer: Tech giants and social media platforms have been capitalizing on local newspapers’ content for almost two decades.

Like the adage goes: “You don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone.”

Without broader support of local news, there will be a noticeable gap in credible, independently sourced information about public happenings — something commercial television and radio, and public media, seemingly aren’t poised to fill.

What might persist?

Will it be a single source of “cut-and-paste” reporting akin to George Orwell’s “1984”? In this scenario, a single person masquerading as a team of independent reporters would use artificial intelligence to regurgitate government-issued press releases and label it as independent reporting.

The Invite: What We’re Asking You To Do

Preserving local news is going to require something special.

We see you — our readers — as the driving force, our boss, and your ongoing readership and creative input are essential.

First, subscribe, subscribe and recruit a friend to subscribe.

Your paid subscription — and your continued support of our local advertisers — is essential.

It’s the fuel for local news, opinion, photography, events and sports coverage.

If you’re one of the thousands using a borrowed username and password from family or friends, please make the leap and join the conversation. Create your own account and check out our improved website subscription page.

Second, let’s get together.

Join us for an up-close tour of our downtown Lewiston operations, where the Daily News is published.

It’s the first of a series of communitywide meetings we’re calling the Save Local News Sessions.

The kick-off event — Save Local News Anniversary Session — is from 5:30-7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 5.

All ages are welcome.

We’ll take a walking tour of the Daily News-Tribune downtown offices, our museum and state-of-the art production center — and you’ll be interested in our other nonmedia growing business operations, too.

We’ll share ideas, a coffee, pop, wine or beer and listen.

Please RSVP by either scanning the QR code that accompanies this story or visit bit.ly/3LH3Dsx on your web browser.

We’re also planning a series of four additional Save Local News Sessions.

These 60-minute sessions are exclusive to individuals aged 30 to 45.

If you’re a millennial who recognizes the need, please join us in Moscow on Thursday, Oct. 12, at the Hunga Dunga Brewing Company, or in Lewiston on Thursday, Oct. 26, Nov. 16 or Nov. 30.

Can’t find a sitter? The Nov. 16 session will be virtual and we’ll send you a link to join.

Again, RSVP, please. Do it by visiting bit.ly/48wQxrk on the web or scanning the QR code for the Save Local News Session that works best.

What gaps in local news and information can we fill? What would spur you to subscribe?

Public Trust and Civility Have Been Largely Dismantled

We’re all in and everyone is invited — whether you love us or hate us.

The depth of our love for our region, and beyond, runs too deep.

We all have differences of opinion, of course. But at the end of the day we are neighbors. We’re friends. And we support each other, our schools, our sports teams, our police and first responders, our health care system, our local industry and, we hope, our local press.

Much has changed, but one thing remains the same: An informed community is a caring community.

With your help, there will be no news deserts on the Palouse.

Latest Tech — New App and Improved e-edition

And a couple final footnotes and examples of our efforts to improve our digital offerings.

If you haven’t yet, download our new (and free) apps by searching for us by name — Moscow-Pullman Daily News or the Lewiston Tribune — in the Apple App Store or Google Play Store.

With our app, you will have an all-new way to read about local happenings, sports, news and events. It’s customizable, allowing you to select the content that appears on your home screen, and it lets you see breaking news notifications in real time. It even has direct links to our Inland360 Events Calendar and the e-edition, right in the palm of your hand.

We’ve also upgraded the e-edition. You’ll find it in the usual place on the website or in the app.

Our all-new e-edition brings an updated, improved user experience to reading the printed Daily News — digitally. Now you’ll be able to see each printed page but you won’t have to pinch and zoom to read content. Clicking articles will open the content in a new webpage. But if you’re a pinch-and-zoomer, don’t worry: You will still be able to open high-quality images of every printed page.

Give them a spin and please let us know what you think.

And RSVP to one of the Save Local News Sessions — and help us resolve our Daily News’ 112-year birthday midlife crisis.

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.