The probably apocryphal story goes that, close to a century ago, President Harry Truman shot back at an inquiring reporter of the Spokane Spokesman-Review: “How does it feel to be working for the wort newspaper in America?”
It wasn’t true, of course, even then (though the editorial page certainly did Truman no favors), and since then it has become quite a good newspaper indeed, for some decades providing the leading news report not only in eastern Washington state but also across northern Idaho and into a slice of Montana.
Like nearly all other newspapers, it has suffered in the last couple of decades, scaling down in size and scope year after year, a victim of changing economic conditions. It has remained more active than many newspapers, in fact, because it has remained locally owned, operated for 132 years by members of the Cowles family. Now that family is making a grand gesture toward securing meaningful journalism for Spokane in the years to come.
On Tuesday, the Cowles family said that it would give the paper, plus a $2 million grant, to a nonprofit called the Comma Community Journalism Lab. Publisher Stacey Cowles remarked, “It’s been a great venture for 132 years, but if you had the chance to extend its viability, as people know and love it, why would you not do that?”
The plan is for the paper to continue publishing in print six days a week and retain its online presence, with some indication that more material (reports produced with non-profit support) may be outside the pay wall. All existing staff are expected to be retained at the same pay levels.
It couldn’t have been an easy thing to do. But going non-profit probably is the only way to keep regional and local journalism alive, and news organizations are probably going to be a lot stronger going forward if they can build on the expertise and background of those who have come before.
More broadly critical is this: Local newspapers are looking for models that will allow for informing the public over the long haul, through an approach that provides for both enough funding and stable organization to keep people informed in years ahead. The nation hardly has a more critical need.
If you doubt that, look at what has become of our politics today.
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