Moscow-Pullman Daily News

About Moscow-Pullman Daily News

Straddling the Idaho-Washington state line on the rolling Palouse, the Moscow-Pullman Daily News serves one of America's most distinctive college-town communities — the twin university cities of Moscow, Idaho, and Pullman, Washington, home to the University of Idaho and Washington State University. Published continuously in Moscow since September 28, 1911, the paper carries a lineage stretching back to the 1880s frontier press. Locally owned by the Alford family of Lewiston through TPC Publishing, it has survived newspaper wars, corporate consolidations, and the digital revolution to remain the Palouse's paper of record.

History and Founding

The newspaper has been published continuously in Moscow for well over a century, since September 28, 1911. It began as the Daily Star-Mirror, itself the product of frontier journalism: the Moscow Mirror was started in 1882 and the North Idaho Star in 1887, and the two merged in 1905. The first editor of the Moscow Mirror was Willis Sweet (1856–1925), Idaho's first elected congressman following statehood in 1890, who had learned the printer's trade in Nebraska before becoming an attorney, judge, and territorial supreme court justice — and who was instrumental in securing the University of Idaho for Moscow, serving as the first president of its board of regents from 1889 to 1893.

A final intracity competitor arrived with Frank B. Robinson's Moscow News Review, which began in 1933 and went to daily publication in September 1935. The two papers merged in November 1939 and ran briefly under a lengthy combined name before becoming the Daily Idahonian. The Palouse Empire News, serving Whitman County, Washington, was added in 1984 and later became the Daily News. Later in the 1980s, the paper was acquired by Kerns-Tribune of Salt Lake City, Utah. The Idahonian and the Daily News were merged in late 1991, creating the Moscow-Pullman Daily News. Kerns-Tribune was acquired by TCI in 1997; all the company's papers except The Salt Lake Tribune were acquired by A.L. "Butch" Alford Jr. the following year, returning the paper to family ownership under TPC Holdings of Lewiston, Idaho.

Coverage Area and Readership

The Moscow-Pullman Daily News serves eighteen communities across Whitman County, Washington, and Latah County, Idaho — the heart of the Palouse, the rolling wheat country of the inland Northwest. Its core readership centers on Moscow and Pullman, two cities eight miles apart whose identities are inseparable from their land-grant universities: the University of Idaho in Moscow and Washington State University in Pullman. This gives the paper an unusually educated and engaged audience, with university faculty, staff, and students forming a large share of its readership alongside farmers, small-business owners, and longtime Palouse families.

The paper's circulation has been reported at approximately 5,100. Its coverage must serve two states, two counties, and two flagship universities — navigating different state governments, different tax systems, and the distinct cultures of Idaho and Washington. The paper covers everything from wheat prices and lentil harvests to Cougar and Vandal athletics, from city council meetings in two states to the research breakthroughs emerging from the region's laboratories. The paper's headquarters is listed at 220 East Fifth Street, Suite 314, in Moscow.

Ownership and Organization

The paper is owned by TPC Publishing — TPC Holdings of Lewiston, Idaho — and A.L. "Butch" Alford Jr., representing the fourth generation of the Alford newspaper family. The Alfords' newspaper history dates to 1892, when brothers Albert H. and Eugene L. Alford first published the Lewiston Tribune, the first of four generations of Alfords to publish that paper. Butch Alford is president of TPC Holdings and a former editor and publisher of the Tribune. The Moscow-Pullman Daily News's sister newspaper is the Lewiston Tribune, and together the papers serve more than 32,000 subscribers across north-central Idaho and southeastern Washington.

The paper's publisher and editor is listed as Nathan Alford, with Matt Baney as managing editor. The Alford family's ownership represents a deliberate commitment to local journalism: in 2008, TPC Holdings invested $12 million in a state-of-the-art MAN Roland Uniset 75 offset press and a new 32,000-square-foot production facility in Lewiston, where both the Tribune and the Daily News are now printed. As Butch Alford said at the time, the company decided "to make an investment in a new production center and press" to meet customers' needs "in these tough economic times" — a striking vote of confidence in print while other companies were cutting.

Newsroom and Editorial Approach

The Daily News newsroom covers the full range of a university-community daily: local government in two states, K-12 and higher education, agriculture, business, crime and courts, and the environment of the Palouse. Its education reporting is a particular strength, covering two major research universities — their administrations, budgets, research programs, and the town-gown relationships that shape both communities. The paper's sports coverage follows Washington State Cougars and Idaho Vandals athletics, a passion that unites and divides the region.

The paper's editorial approach reflects its community roots: thorough, fair-minded, and deeply knowledgeable about the Palouse. Its opinion pages provide a forum for the region's debates — over water rights, growth management, university funding, and the cultural differences between its Idaho and Washington readerships. The paper has historically punched above its weight in enterprise reporting, and its journalists have been recognized by the Idaho and Washington press associations.

Print and Digital Presence

The paper's print history reflects the industry's evolution. For decades, its facilities were at 409 South Jackson Street in Moscow; after printing operations moved south to Lewiston, it downsized its Moscow headquarters in 2013, moving three blocks east to the federal building. In 2023, the Moscow office was closed. The print edition long appeared daily except Sundays; in 2020, the paper eliminated its Monday print edition, and in 2024 it reduced print frequency to two days a week — Thursdays and Saturdays — while switching from carrier to postal delivery.

Digitally, the paper publishes at dnews.com, offering breaking news, e-editions, obituaries, classifieds, and community features for the Palouse. The website serves as the digital front door for readers in both states, with university news, agricultural market coverage, and the police logs and court reports that are the lifeblood of community journalism. The reduction in print frequency has made the digital edition increasingly central to the paper's mission of keeping the Palouse informed daily.

Notable Coverage and Investigations

The Daily News has distinguished itself with coverage of the issues that define the Palouse. Its reporting on the region's groundwater — the declining Grande Ronde aquifer that supplies Moscow, Pullman, and the universities — has documented one of the West's most pressing water stories, covering the Palouse Basin Aquifer Committee's efforts to manage a resource that is being pumped faster than it recharges. The paper has covered the tension between agricultural water use, municipal growth, and university expansion with sustained attention.

Its university coverage has included investigations of administrative decisions, budget crises, and campus controversies at both the University of Idaho and Washington State University — stories with statewide implications given the universities' roles as their states' flagship research institutions. The paper has covered the region's agricultural economy, from wheat and barley to the Palouse's famous lentils, and the boom-and-bust cycles that shape farm country. Its crime and courts reporting, including extensive coverage of major criminal cases in Latah County, has drawn national attention to the paper's work.

Community Role and Impact

On the Palouse, the Daily News is the connective tissue of a binational, bistate community. It covers the high school sports, county fairs, and harvest festivals that mark the seasons in farm country, alongside the lectures, concerts, and athletic contests of two universities. Its "Back Issues" features, drawn from the pages of the Daily News and the Idahonian, connect present-day readers to more than a century of local history. The paper's photograph collection — thousands of negatives from the Idahonian and Daily News eras, now archived — constitutes an invaluable visual record of the region.

The paper's role as a watchdog is particularly important in small cities dominated by large institutions: holding university administrations accountable, scrutinizing city governments in Moscow and Pullman, and giving voice to the rural communities of Whitman and Latah counties that can feel overshadowed by the universities. In a region where the local paper is often the only news organization covering city hall or the county commission, the Daily News's continued existence is itself a civic achievement.

Awards and Recognition

Daily News journalists have been honored by the Idaho Press Club, the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association, and other regional organizations for reporting, photography, and design. The paper's coverage of breaking news, agricultural issues, and university affairs has earned consistent recognition. The Alford family's $12 million press investment in 2008 was itself recognized within the industry as a landmark commitment to community newspapers.

The paper's archives — stretching back through the Idahonian to the Daily Star-Mirror, the Moscow Mirror of 1882, and the North Idaho Star of 1887 — represent one of the most complete journalistic records of the inland Northwest, a resource for historians of the Palouse, the universities, and the region's agricultural heritage.

Recent Developments

Recent years have brought significant changes. The 2024 reduction to two print editions per week (Thursdays and Saturdays) and the switch from carrier to postal delivery reflected the economic realities of print distribution in a rural market. The 2023 closure of the Moscow office marked the end of an era for a paper long headquartered in the city it serves, with operations consolidated around the Lewiston production facility and digital workflows.

Yet the paper continues to publish daily online at dnews.com, serving its eighteen-community footprint across two states. Under the Alford family's continued ownership — now in its fourth generation of newspapering — the Moscow-Pullman Daily News remains committed to the proposition that the Palouse deserves its own daily record. In an age of news deserts, the paper's survival as a locally owned, university-town daily is both an anomaly and an inspiration, carrying forward a publishing tradition that began when Willis Sweet set type for the Moscow Mirror in 1882.