Church News

About Church News

Church News is the official news service of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, based in Salt Lake City, Utah. A multi-platform operation owned by the Deseret News Publishing Company, it publishes daily online and weekly as a tabloid-sized print edition, and it is the only publication of the Latter-day Saint church devoted entirely to news coverage of the church. For more than 90 years, its journalists have recorded the ministry of the church's leaders, the growth of its global membership, and the events shaping the faith's worldwide operations. Its staff works from headquarters at 50 North 300 West in Salt Lake City, and its official website is www.thechurchnews.com.

The First Church Section: April 1931

The Church News began as a section of the Deseret News, the daily newspaper founded in Salt Lake City in 1850 under the direction of Latter-day Saint president Brigham Young, with Willard Richards as editor and the motto "Truth and Liberty." For decades, news of the church had been blended with secular items in the Deseret News, then gradually confined to specific columns. On Friday, April 3, 1931, a notice appeared on the paper's front page announcing that a new Church Section would debut the following day, gathering "all subject matter pertaining to doctrine, church news and activities" into a self-contained, magazine-sized Saturday supplement — in tabloid format, set apart from the rest of the paper, though still carrying the Deseret News masthead with the words "Church Section" on either side.

An Idea Seventy-Five Years in the Making

The idea behind the Church Section was not new in 1931. As early as 1856, Deseret News editor Albert Carrington had suggested creating a second newspaper so that religious and secular news could be kept separate. The proposal went unacted upon for decades — it took 75 years before the vision became reality under the leadership of Henry A. Smith, who helped bring the section into existence. The first edition appeared on Saturday, April 4, 1931 — the first day of the 101st Annual General Conference of the church, and the day before Easter — a debut timed to the most important gathering in the church's yearly calendar.

The Contents of the Debut Edition

In keeping with the Easter season, the front page of the first edition carried a half-page line drawing of the resurrected Christ among the Nephites, accompanying an article by Elder B. H. Roberts of the First Council of Seventy, who was also an assistant church historian. The front page also featured the verbatim text of a sermon delivered over KSL Radio by Elder Bryant S. Hinckley. The edition set the tone for what would follow: sermons and doctrinal commentary from church leaders, coverage of church events, and announcements about new bishoprics and stake presidencies — the institutional news of the faith, presented in a reverential and uplifting style.

From Church Section to Church News

The publication underwent several name changes before settling on its enduring title. Initially known simply as the Church Section — a name some longtime members still use — it was retitled the Weekly Church Edition in 1942 and became the Church News in 1943. The name remained in flux for a few more years, and in 1981 the paper was retitled LDS Church News: News of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, though it is most commonly known today simply as the Church News. In 1943, circulation as an independent publication separate from the Deseret News began, establishing the paper as a standalone subscription product.

Growth and Independence

The mid-1940s brought a significant expansion of the paper's reach. In 1945, Liahona, The Elders' Journal — a publication based in Independence, Missouri, aimed at members and missionaries in the eastern and central United States — ceased publication, and its readers were encouraged to subscribe to the Church News. Over the following decades, the paper expanded in size, made room for more photographs, transitioned from black and white to color, and broadened its coverage from its Utah-centered origins to chronicle the church's members and ministries around the world. The paper experimented briefly with some harder news coverage in the early 1970s but returned to its established formula of inspirational, faith-promoting journalism.

The Mission: "Authorized News"

The Church News describes its purpose as building testimonies and uplifting its readers. It publishes what the church calls its "Authorized News" — official coverage of church leadership, doctrine, and programs — and the church encourages its members to subscribe, lending the content an air of official endorsement. The publication emphasizes success stories and inspirational human-interest features and remains reverential toward church leaders rather than pursuing controversial topics. Its graphics-heavy format and motivational tone have made it a staple of Latter-day Saint family reading for generations, and some readers have affectionately nicknamed it "This Week in Utah" for its historically Utah-centric coverage.

The Church News Almanac

From 1974 to 2013, the Deseret News published the Church Almanac, an annual reference volume carrying church facts and statistics, edited by Church News staff. The almanac compiled data on church membership, temples, missions, stakes, and leadership rosters, and it served for decades as the standard statistical reference for the Latter-day Saint faith. Its production was one of the clearest demonstrations of the Church News staff's role as the institutional record-keepers of the church, documenting the numbers behind the church's growth year after year.

Going Digital: Daily Online and the 2018 Redesign

The Church News is today a multi-platform operation, publishing daily online and weekly in its tabloid print edition. In April 2018, it launched a redesigned print publication and a new website under the theme "A Living Record of the Restoration," modernizing its presentation for the digital age. Current and back issues from 1988 onward are available online, giving readers access to decades of the paper's archive. The publication has also expanded into new media, including a Church News podcast, and it publishes in Spanish and Portuguese in addition to English, reflecting the church's substantial and growing membership in Latin America.

A Global Reporting Staff

Church News staff members are based in Salt Lake City but travel to locations throughout the world to report on the church, its leaders, and its global membership. The paper covers general conferences — the church's semiannual worldwide gatherings — with brief reports of sermons and announcements, and it follows the dedications of new temples, humanitarian efforts, and the activities of church members in dozens of countries. This international emphasis represents a deliberate evolution from the paper's earlier, more Utah-focused coverage, as the church's membership has become increasingly global.

Ninety Years and Counting

In April 2021, the Church News marked its 90th anniversary, chronicling nine decades of covering church leaders, members, and events. The publication noted that in that span it had gone from a church section inside a Salt Lake City daily to a global, multi-platform news service publishing in multiple languages. Notably, the paper carried advertisements only in its first three issues and during 1959–60; it has otherwise been financially supported by the broader Deseret News operations and its high-volume subscriptions, preserving the religious dignity of its pages. As the official news arm of a faith with millions of members worldwide, it remains the principal venue through which the church tells its own story to its members. Readers can follow its daily coverage at www.thechurchnews.com.