Introduction | Newspapers | Television | Radio | Public/Educational | Independent/Community | Indigenous/Cultural | Specialized
Part of a series: This is one section of Who Owns and Who Operates Washington’s News Media? The other sections will be published separately.
This section covers print newspapers, their websites, news publications that began online, and former print outlets now publishing mainly or entirely online. Some are profiled elsewhere when nonprofit structure, community identity, or another characteristic better explains their role.
Washington’s newspapers reveal both the scale of consolidation and the variety that still exists outside national chains. Some familiar local publications belong to companies operating in dozens or hundreds of markets, while others remain under local family, individual, or regional ownership.
The research also shows that a surviving newspaper name does not necessarily represent the newsroom or local reporting capacity it once did. Shared staffing and production can help publications survive, but they can also reduce distinct local coverage. And local ownership brings its own strengths and vulnerabilities.
Locally owned neighborhood and community journalism has contracted, but it has not disappeared. Locally based newspaper companies, independent online publications, and nonprofit news organizations still provide dedicated coverage in some communities. And newer digital operations are being built in some places where traditional newspapers have declined, using nonprofit, independent, and other emerging models.
The profiles below show both the contraction of traditional local news and the emergence of newer ways to provide it.
Where Dedicated Local News Has Disappeared
News deserts are areas with little or no consistent local news coverage. Washington’s changing news landscape can also be seen at a smaller geographic scale: cities, towns, communities, and neighborhoods that once had their own dedicated news publications but no longer do. They may still receive coverage from regional or nearby news organizations, but they have lost a publication dedicated specifically to their area, its institutions, and its issues.
A 2025 Washington State University study identified Ferry and Skamania counties as Washington’s two county-level news deserts, with no locally based news outlet.
The locations below are places where my review found a former dedicated local news publication but no current publication with the same sustained local focus. The list is selective rather than exhaustive and does not mean these places receive no news coverage.
Seattle
Beacon Hill — South Seattle Beacon (formerly Beacon Hill News)
University District — University Herald
King and Snohomish counties
Newcastle — Newcastle News
Woodinville — Woodinville Weekly
Arlington — The Arlington Times
Lake Stevens — Lake Stevens Journal
Southwest Washington
Ocean Shores — North Coast News
Montesano — The Vidette
Central Washington
Othello — Othello Outlook
Adams MultiMedia
Headquarters: Coon Rapids, Minnesota
Ownership: Adams MultiMedia, formerly the Adams Publishing Group, is a family-owned company founded by Mark Adams and his family in 2013. It has expanded largely through acquisitions and now operates newspapers and related media businesses in 20 states, including about 30 daily and more than 100 nondaily publications.
Principal outlets or services: Skagit Valley Herald (Mount Vernon), Anacortes American, Stanwood Camano News, and Daily Record (Ellensburg).
Primary communities served: Skagit County; Anacortes and Fidalgo Island; Stanwood in Snohomish County and Camano Island in Island County; and Ellensburg and Kittitas County.
News operation: The Skagit-area publications operate through a regional publishing structure centered in Mount Vernon and share some management, production, business, and digital services. The Daily Record maintains its own Ellensburg identity and local coverage while operating within the larger Adams organization. Public information does not clearly show the full number of separate reporters and editors assigned to each publication.
What audiences should know: Adams acquired these Washington newspapers in 2017 when it bought the media division of Pioneer News Group, a family company associated with the Scripps family. The transaction was part of Adams’ rapid growth from a new company into a large national chain of community publications. In July 2026, unionized journalists at the Skagit Valley Herald, Anacortes American, and Stanwood Camano News held a strike over wages and protections governing the use of artificial intelligence. The dispute provides a current example of tension between a national chain’s business decisions and the working conditions needed to sustain local reporting.
Information checked: August 2026. Staffing assigned to individual publications could not be fully verified.
Beacon Publishing
Headquarters: Mukilteo
Ownership: Beacon Publishing is an independent, locally owned newspaper company owned and operated by publisher Paul Archipley.
Principal outlets: Mukilteo Beacon, Edmonds Beacon, and Mill Creek Beacon.
Primary communities served: Mukilteo, Edmonds, Mill Creek, and nearby areas of south Snohomish County.
News operation: The three Beacon newspapers publish weekly print editions and provide news online, with regular coverage of city governments, schools, public safety, development, businesses, sports, and community affairs. The company also publishes The Beacon Magazine.
What audiences should know: The Edmonds Beacon dates to 1986, the Mukilteo Beacon to 1992, and the Mill Creek Beacon was added later. The three papers share publishing infrastructure while retaining separate community identities.
Information checked: August 2026.
Carpenter Media Group
Headquarters: Carpenter Media Group is based in Natchez, Mississippi, and Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Sound Publishing is based in Everett.
Ownership: Carpenter Media Group owns or manages more than 250 publications in the United States and Canada. It manages the Washington newspaper properties formerly operated through Black Press Media and its Sound Publishing subsidiary. Carpenter and Canadian investment firm Canso Investment Counsel acquired Black Press Media in 2024 through newly created U.S. and Canadian corporate entities and share ownership of the acquired operations. Sound Publishing remains associated with many of the Washington publications, but Carpenter Media Group has increasingly become the public-facing corporate identity.
Principal outlets or services: Carpenter Media Group manages a large network of Washington newspapers and related news websites, many formerly identified collectively as Sound Publishing. Publications include:
Snohomish County: The Daily Herald (Everett)
Olympic Peninsula and southwest Washington: Peninsula Daily News (Port Angeles), Sequim Gazette, Forks Forum, The Daily World (Aberdeen), and Chinook Observer (Long Beach)
Whidbey, Vashon, and San Juan islands: Whidbey News-Times (Oak Harbor), South Whidbey Record (Langley), Vashon-Maury Island Beachcomber, Islands’ Sounder (Orcas Island), Islands’ Weekly (Lopez Island), and Journal of the San Juan Islands (Friday Harbor).
Kitsap County: Bainbridge Island Review and North Kitsap Herald (Poulsbo), Port Orchard Independent, Central Kitsap Reporter (Silverdale), and Kingston Community News with a shared Kitsap Daily News website
King County: The Auburn, Bellevue, Kent, Kirkland, Redmond, Renton, and other Reporter newspapers along with the Courier-Herald (Enumclaw), Federal Way Mirror, Seattle Weekly, and Snoqualmie Valley Record.
Some publications share websites, staff, editing, or other operations.
Primary communities served: Much of western Washington, especially the Puget Sound region, the Olympic Peninsula, Whidbey and the San Juan Islands, and Kitsap, Grays Harbor, and Pacific counties.
News operation: Carpenter’s Washington network includes several substantial regional publications, notably The Daily Herald, Peninsula Daily News, and The Daily World, along with many smaller community papers operating through Sound Publishing. Some publications share publishers, editors, websites, production, or other resources. Public information does not clearly show how many fully separate newsrooms or local reporting positions remain behind all the mastheads.
What audiences should know: Carpenter Media Group now manages a large network of Washington newspapers long associated with Black Press Media and Sound Publishing. Over time, that network has also shrunk as some publications closed or were absorbed into others. In King County, the Journal-American and Valley Daily News—renamed the Eastside Journal and South County Journal in 1996—were combined into the King County Journal in 2002. Sound Publishing acquired the King County Journal and related community newspapers in 2006 and closed the daily in 2007. Sound Publishing continues to operate Reporter newspapers serving several King County communities. Other publications acquired by Black Press or Sound later closed or were absorbed into other papers, including the Arlington Times, Marysville Globe, Bellingham Business Journal, North Coast News (Ocean Shores), and The Vidette (Grays Harbor).
The effects of ownership decisions became especially visible after Carpenter took control in 2024, when substantial staffing cuts affected Sound publications, including The Daily Herald. A dispute also arose over the Herald’s reporting on its own layoffs, illustrating how ownership can affect both newsroom capacity and coverage of the companies that own news organizations.
Information checked: August 2026. The company’s full current Washington publication list and the staffing arrangements behind individual mastheads could not be independently verified.
Cascadia Daily News
Headquarters: Bellingham
Ownership: Cascadia Daily News is published by Cascadia Media Co. LLC, which is wholly owned by Whatcom County businessman David Syre. It is a locally owned, for-profit publication supported by subscriptions, advertising, donations, and other partnerships.
Principal outlets or services: Cascadia Daily News, a continuously updated news website and weekly print newspaper. Cascadia Media Co. also publishes Cascadia Daily Life, a regional magazine launched in May 2026.
Primary communities served: Whatcom and Skagit counties and the San Juan Islands, with Bellingham and Whatcom County at the center of its coverage.
News operation: The publication maintains a staffed newsroom in downtown Bellingham and reports breaking and enterprise news, local government, public affairs, sports, arts, and regional issues. It publishes online seven days a week and issues a weekly print edition on Fridays.
What audiences should know: Cascadia Daily News launched in 2022 amid concerns about reduced local coverage in northwest Washington, including cutbacks at the chain-owned Bellingham Herald. In May 2026, owner David Syre fired founding executive editor Ron Judd after disagreements over the company’s direction, including development of the magazine. The leadership change illustrates the role an individual owner can play in setting the direction of a locally owned news organization.
Information checked: August 2026.
Columbian Publishing Co.
Headquarters: Vancouver
Ownership: Columbian Publishing Co. is locally owned by the Campbell family, which has controlled The Columbian since 1921. Ben Campbell is the current publisher and co-owner.
Principal outlets or services: The Columbian (Vancouver) and Camas-Washougal Post-Record.
Primary communities served: Vancouver and communities throughout Clark County, including Camas and Washougal.
News operation: The Columbian maintains a substantial local newsroom. The company said in late 2025 that the newsroom had almost 30 full-time employees. Beginning in January 2025, the Camas-Washougal Post-Record began pooling newsroom resources with The Columbian while retaining its own name, website, and weekly print edition.
What audiences should know: The company is a rare surviving example of local, multigenerational family newspaper ownership. It bought the independently owned Camas-Washougal Post-Record in 2004. The publishing company entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2009 after a costly building project and a sharp decline in advertising revenue, but it emerged in 2010 under continued Campbell family ownership. More recently, combining the two newsrooms shows that local ownership does not prevent consolidation. But it may keep the reporting operation and editorial decisions rooted in the community rather than under a distant national chain.
Information checked: July 2026.
Cowles Co./The Spokesman-Review
Headquarters: Spokane
Ownership: The Cowles family has owned The Spokesman-Review since the late 19th century. That arrangement is now changing. The family has agreed to donate the newspaper to the nonprofit Comma Community Journalism Lab and provide a $2 million matching contribution. Comma reached its initial $2 million fundraising goal in May 2026, triggering the formal ownership-transfer process. The Cowles Co. will retain ownership of the newspaper’s downtown building.
Principal outlets or services: The Spokesman-Review and its website.
Primary communities served: Spokane and eastern Washington, northern Idaho, and the broader Inland Northwest.
News operation: The Spokesman-Review maintains a substantial regional newsroom covering local and state government, business, education, public safety, culture, sports, and other issues. It also uses events, educational partnerships, philanthropic support, and other revenue sources to supplement advertising and subscriptions.
What audiences should know: The newspaper developed from several early Spokane publications and has remained under Cowles family control since the 1890s. The separately published Spokane Daily Chronicle was absorbed into The Spokesman-Review in 1992. The Cowles family’s decision to transfer The Spokesman-Review to a nonprofit represents an unusual effort to preserve a longstanding regional newsroom before financial pressures force its closure or sale to an outside chain. The transition is designed to combine subscriptions, advertising, philanthropy, events, and community partnerships. It also changes the meaning of “local ownership”: The newspaper is moving from one local family to a locally governed nonprofit rather than to a distant corporation or investment firm.
Cowles also owns television stations serving Spokane, Yakima, and the Tri-Cities. See the Cowles Co. profile under Commercial Television News (coming soon).
Information checked: July 2026. The transfer to the nonprofit Comma Community Journalism Lab is underway.
Free Press Publishing/Cheney Free Press
Headquarters: Cheney
Ownership: Free Press Publishing is an eastern Washington newspaper company owned and published by Roger Harnack.
Principal outlets or services: Cheney Free Press; Lincoln County Record-Times (Odessa); Ritzville Adams County Journal; Whitman County Gazette (Colfax); and Franklin Connection. The company also publishes several community or advertising publications, but those products do not all appear to serve the same news function as its weekly newspapers.
Primary communities served: Cheney, Medical Lake, Airway Heights, Spokane Valley, Odessa, Colfax, and other rural communities in Lincoln, Franklin, and Adams counties.
News operation: The publications retain separate community identities, but staff members and reporting are shared across several titles. Some papers have local or part-time journalists assigned to their communities, while companywide staff also contribute reporting, photography, editing, and production. Current editions continue to provide original coverage of local government, public safety, schools, sports, and community life.
What audiences should know: Free Press Publishing is a small regional group, not a distant national chain. Its flagship, the Cheney Free Press, dates to 1896. The company expanded over time through acquisitions, including the Ritzville Adams County Journal, Whitman County Gazette, and Odessa Record. Its publications illustrate one way small rural newspapers may survive—by sharing staff and production while attempting to preserve distinct local coverage. That structure can strengthen reporting across sparsely populated communities, although it also means that separate mastheads do not necessarily represent fully separate newsrooms.
Information checked: July 2026.
Hagadone Media Group/Columbia Basin Herald
Headquarters: Hagadone Media Group, Coeur d’Alene, Idaho; Columbia Basin Herald, Moses Lake
Ownership: The Columbia Basin Herald is owned by Hagadone Media Group, a privately held media company based in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. Hagadone operates newspapers and other publications in Washington, Idaho, and Montana.
Principal Washington outlets: Columbia Basin Herald and Basin Business Journal/Farm News.
Primary communities served: Moses Lake and communities across the Columbia Basin, including parts of Grant and Adams counties.
News operation: The Columbia Basin Herald publishes five days a week in print and online. Its reporting includes local government, schools, public safety, agriculture, business, sports, and community news across the Columbia Basin.
What audiences should know: Hagadone is a regional newspaper company, not a Washington-based owner. The Columbia Basin Herald has been under Hagadone ownership since 1967, making it a long-standing example of out-of-state ownership rather than a recent chain acquisition.
Information checked: August 2026.
Hearst/SeattlePI
Headquarters: Hearst is based in New York City. Hearst Seattle Media and SeattlePI are based in Seattle.
Ownership: SeattlePI is owned by Hearst, a privately held national media company. Hearst Newspapers publishes 30 daily and 50 weekly newspapers, while the broader company also owns 35 television stations, major magazines, and other media properties. Hearst acquired the Seattle Post-Intelligencer in 1921 and continues to operate its online successor through Hearst Seattle Media.
Principal outlets or services: SeattlePI.com and related newsletters and digital news products.
Primary communities served: Seattle and the Puget Sound region, with coverage of Washington news, politics, sports, business, culture, travel, and lifestyle subjects.
News operation: SeattlePI publishes a mixture of original staff reporting, breaking news, service journalism, commentary, and material produced or distributed through Hearst’s broader digital operations. Hearst describes the site as maintaining local, watchdog, and investigative reporting, but publicly available information does not clearly disclose the size or structure of its current Seattle newsroom.
What audiences should know: The Seattle Post-Intelligencer was founded in 1863 and for generations was one of Seattle’s two major daily newspapers. From 1983 until 2009, it maintained a separate newsroom and editorial voice while sharing printing, advertising, circulation, and other business operations with The Seattle Times under a joint operating agreement. Hearst put the newspaper up for sale in early 2009 but found no buyer; the print edition ended that March, and SeattlePI continued online with a much smaller staff. The familiar name survives, but the current site is not the metropolitan newspaper—or newsroom—the P-I once was.
Information checked: July 2026.
Lee Enterprises/The Daily News
Headquarters: Lee Enterprises is based in Davenport, Iowa. The Daily News is based in Longview.
Ownership: The Daily News is owned by Lee Enterprises, a publicly traded national newspaper company providing local news and information in 114 markets across 25 states. In early 2026, investor David Hoffmann acquired majority voting control of Lee and became chairman of its board.
Principal outlets or services: The Daily News and its website.
Primary communities served: Longview, Kelso, Cowlitz County, and nearby communities in southwest Washington and northwest Oregon.
News operation: The Daily News publishes news online throughout the week and a print edition on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. It retains a local reporting operation, but public information does not clearly show its current newsroom size or which editing and production functions Lee handles elsewhere.
What audiences should know: The newspaper was founded in 1923 and remained under locally rooted McClelland-Natt family ownership for most of the 20th century. It won a Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens. The family sold the paper to Howard Publications in 1999, and Lee acquired it in 2002. Its move from long-term local ownership into a national newspaper chain, followed by its reduction from daily print publication to three days a week in 2023, illustrates how ownership consolidation and industry pressures can substantially change the operation behind a longstanding local newspaper name.
Information checked: July 2026.
McClatchy Media/Chatham Asset Management
Headquarters: McClatchy has longstanding headquarters and corporate roots in Sacramento, California. Chatham Asset Management is based in Chatham, New Jersey.
Ownership: McClatchy is a longstanding national newspaper company operating local news organizations in about 30 markets across the United States. It is privately owned by Chatham Asset Management, an investment firm that acquired substantially all of the company’s assets after McClatchy entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2020. McClatchy retained its company name after the sale.
Principal outlets or services: McClatchy owns four Washington newspapers and their websites: The News Tribune (Tacoma), The Olympian (Olympia), The Bellingham Herald, and Tri-City Herald.
Primary communities served: Pierce County and South Puget Sound; Thurston County; Whatcom County; and the Tri-Cities of Kennewick, Pasco, and Richland, and surrounding communities in Benton and Franklin counties.
News operation: The four publications retain distinct local identities and reporting staffs, but they also operate within McClatchy’s national corporate, digital, advertising, production, and management systems. Some reporting and other resources may be shared among the Washington papers or across the company. The four Washington newsrooms had 31 union-represented employees in May 2026, though that figure may not include every newsroom position.
What audiences should know: These four newspapers were established as separate local publications and remained under different owners for much of their histories. The Tri-City Herald joined McClatchy in 1979, The News Tribune in 1986, and The Olympian and The Bellingham Herald in 2006, when McClatchy acquired their parent company, Knight Ridder. McClatchy entered bankruptcy in 2020, and control passed to Chatham Asset Management.
In May 2026, journalists at all four Washington newspapers held a one-day strike during contract negotiations over wages and artificial-intelligence protections. Union members also said they wanted protection for time-consuming local reporting rather than pressure to produce higher-volume, click-driven work.
Information checked: August 2026.
Mullen Family Newspaper Companies
Headquarters: The Washington publications are based in Port Townsend, Shelton, Newport, and Omak. The separate Mullen Newspaper Co. is headquartered in Deer Lodge, Montana.
Ownership: Members of the Mullen family own community newspapers through several separate companies and partnerships. The Washington papers are not all clearly subsidiaries of one Mullen corporation. Tom and Annie Mullen, their sons Lloyd and J. Louis Mullen, and local publishing partners have held different ownership interests at different times.
Principal outlets or services: Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader; Shelton-Mason County Journal; Okanogan County Chronicle (Omak); and Newport Miner. In March 2026, the Chronicle purchased the assets of the Okanogan Valley Gazette-Tribune (Oroville), whose final separate print edition appeared in April 2026.
Primary communities served: Port Townsend and Jefferson County; Shelton and Mason County; Newport and Pend Oreille County; and Okanogan County, with Chronicle coverage also extending into parts of Ferry and Douglas counties.
News operation: Each publication maintains its own local identity, office, and named editorial staff. Public information suggests that they operate more like related, family-owned community newspapers than as editions of a centralized Washington chain. The Shelton-Mason County Journal, for example, publicly lists an editor, three reporters, a photographer, and other local staff.
What audiences should know: The Mullen family represents a less centralized form of newspaper consolidation. The family’s Washington holdings span widely separated parts of the state, from near the northwest corner on the Olympic Peninsula to the northeast corner in Pend Oreille County. Family members have acquired longstanding community papers while generally retaining their local names and operations. Tom and Annie Mullen bought the Shelton-Mason County Journal in 2008; Lloyd and J. Louis Mullen acquired the Leader in 2016; and the Omak paper entered Mullen ownership in 2019. Ownership interests have since shifted among family members and local partners, making the connections real but more complicated than a conventional chain structure.
Information checked: August 2026. The ownership relationships among the family’s separate companies and partnerships could not be fully verified from a single public source.
Pacific Publishing Company
Headquarters: Seattle
Ownership: Pacific Publishing Company is a privately owned newspaper publishing and commercial printing company owned by Peter Bernhard.
Principal outlets: Queen Anne & Magnolia News, Madison Park Times, Tacoma Weekly, The Dispatch, and Snohomish County Tribune.
Primary areas served: Seattle neighborhoods including Queen Anne, Magnolia, Madison Park, and nearby areas; Tacoma, Eatonville, and south Pierce County; and Snohomish County communities including Snohomish, Monroe, and Everett.
News operation: Queen Anne & Magnolia News, Tacoma Weekly, The Dispatch, and Snohomish County Tribune publish weekly; Madison Park Times publishes monthly.
What audiences should know: Pacific Publishing’s history illustrates both media consolidation and the decline of neighborhood and community newspapers. The company was formed in 1990 through the acquisition of 14 King County newspapers and shoppers from two locally owned newspaper groups, Murray Publishing and Flaherty Newspapers. Many of the publications themselves had much longer histories. The acquired papers included the Queen Anne News, Magnolia News, Beacon Hill News, Capitol Hill Times, University Herald, Madison Park Times, North Central Outlook, and South District Journal.
Seattle’s neighborhood newspapers served a somewhat different role from community newspapers in smaller cities and towns. They provided sustained coverage of distinct parts of a larger city, while newspapers in places such as Issaquah could also cover their own city governments, schools, and other local institutions.
The network contracted substantially as newspaper economics changed. Pacific Publishing combined operations and closed some publications amid declining advertising and circulation, along with broader financial pressures affecting newspapers nationally. Other publications were sold, including The Issaquah Press, which later closed.
The history shows how Seattle neighborhoods that once had their own newspapers have lost distinct sources of sustained local coverage. At the same time, Pacific Publishing remains a locally based publisher of neighborhood and community newspapers.
Information checked: August 2026.
Robinson Communications/Westside Seattle
Headquarters: Seattle
Ownership: Westside Seattle is owned by Robinson Communications, a local family company led by members of the Robinson family. The family’s community-newspaper history began when Gerald “Jerry” Robinson bought the White Center News in 1952 and later expanded into several Seattle-area communities.
Principal outlets or services: WestsideSeattle.com, which preserves sections and identities associated with the former West Seattle Herald, Ballard News-Tribune, Highline Times, and White Center News. Those names should not be counted as four separately staffed current newspapers.
Primary communities served: West Seattle, White Center, Burien, Ballard, Des Moines, SeaTac, and nearby communities.
News operation: Westside Seattle is now an online local publication with a limited staff. Its site carries original reporting and photography along with community announcements, contributed material, features, opinion, sports, obituaries, and public-information releases. The breadth and depth of coverage vary by community and subject.
What audiences should know: Robinson’s former newspapers were combined into one regional print publication before Westside Seattle ended print publication in April 2021. The website continues, but the transition shows how several longstanding community mastheads can survive online without representing the separate newspapers and newsrooms they once did. It is both a genuine continuing local news source and an example of how much can change behind familiar names.
Information checked: July 2026.
Seattle Times Co.
Headquarters: Seattle
Ownership: The Seattle Times Co. is privately owned by the Blethen family, which has controlled The Seattle Times since 1896. In 2024, the family bought back McClatchy’s 49.5% minority interest, ending nearly a century of outside minority ownership. Ryan Blethen became publisher in January 2026, succeeding his father, Frank Blethen; Alan Fisco became president and chief executive officer.
Principal outlets or services: The Seattle Times, Yakima Herald-Republic, and Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, along with their websites and related digital products.
Primary communities served: The Seattle metropolitan area and much of western Washington; Yakima and central Washington; and Walla Walla and surrounding southeastern Washington communities.
News operation: The three newspapers retain separate local identities and news operations. The Seattle Times has the company’s largest newsroom and provides broad regional coverage, investigative reporting, specialized beats, and several philanthropically supported reporting projects. The Yakima and Walla Walla papers focus primarily on their own communities and regions. The company’s chief executive oversees the business operations of all three publications.
What audiences should know: The company is an unusual surviving example of multigenerational family newspaper ownership. The Blethen family acquired The Seattle Times in 1896, added the Yakima Herald-Republic in 1991, and has long owned the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin. Although the company has faced the same advertising and circulation pressures affecting other newspapers, it has retained substantial local reporting capacity and invested in investigative and public-service journalism. Its growing use of philanthropic support also illustrates how even a large commercial newspaper now relies partly on funding beyond subscriptions and advertising.
Information checked: July 2026.
South King Media
Headquarters: Burien area
Ownership: South King Media is an independent, family-run digital media company founded in 2007 by Scott Schaefer and managed by Schaefer and his wife, Theresa.
Principal outlets: The B-Town Blog (Burien), White Center Blog, Waterland Blog (Des Moines), SeaTac Blog, Normandy Park Blog, I Love Kent, Auburn Examiner, and Tukwila Blog.
Primary communities served: Burien, White Center, Des Moines, SeaTac, Normandy Park, Kent, Auburn, Tukwila, and surrounding areas of south King County.
News operation: South King Media operates eight hyperlocal news websites. Coverage includes city government, elections and politics, public safety, transportation, development, businesses, arts, events, and other community news. Its flagship B-Town Blog began in 2007; the network later expanded into neighboring communities.
What audiences should know: South King Media is an example of locally owned digital journalism developing partly in response to reduced traditional newspaper coverage. Rather than publishing one regional site, it maintains separate sites identified with individual cities and communities. Its growth illustrates how online-only local news organizations can fill some geographic gaps as print community journalism contracts.
Information checked: August 2026.
USA Today Co./Kitsap Sun
Headquarters: USA Today Co. is based in New York City. The Kitsap Sun is based in Bremerton.
Ownership: The Kitsap Sun is owned by USA Today Co., the publicly traded national media company formerly known as Gannett. Its USA Today Network includes USA Today and more than 200 local media organizations across the United States.
Principal outlets or services: Kitsap Sun and its website.
Primary communities served: Kitsap County and the Kitsap Peninsula, with some coverage of neighboring Mason County.
News operation: The Kitsap Sun retains its own local identity, editor, and reporting staff, while operating within USA Today Co.’s national publishing, technology, production, and business systems. Its local journalism appears alongside material shared through the broader USA Today Network. Current public information does not clearly show the size of the newsroom or how many production and editing functions are performed elsewhere.
What audiences should know: The newspaper began as the Bremerton Sun in 1935, became The Sun in 1984, and adopted the name Kitsap Sun in 2005 as its coverage became more regional. After decades within the Scripps newspaper organization, it became part of Journal Media Group in 2015 and was acquired by Gannett in 2016. The succession—from a regionally rooted newspaper company to a short-lived national group and then one of the country’s largest media corporations—illustrates the repeated consolidation of longstanding local newspapers.
Information checked: July 2026.
Ward Media
Headquarters: Wenatchee and Poulsbo
Ownership: Ward Media LLC is independently owned and operated by Terry Ward and Amy Yaley. They founded the company and acquired its north central Washington publications in 2023.
Principal outlets or services: Leavenworth Echo, Cashmere Valley Record, Lake Chelan Mirror, and Quad City Herald (Brewster). Ward Media also publishes the Wenatchee Business Journal and Kitsap Business (Poulsbo). Its community publications share the NCW News website.
Primary communities served: Leavenworth, Cashmere, Chelan, Brewster, and surrounding communities in Chelan, Douglas, and Okanogan counties. Its business publications serve north central Washington and the Kitsap Peninsula.
News operation: The four community newspapers retain their individual names and local coverage while sharing ownership, a regional website, management, and some reporting and production resources. Public information does not clearly show how many reporters or editors are assigned primarily to each community.
What audiences should know: Ward and Yaley bought the four weekly newspapers and the Wenatchee Business Journal from NCW Media in 2023. The publications were already longstanding community institutions: Several have served their areas for more than a century. Ward previously held senior publishing positions with Sound Publishing, including oversight of newspapers on the Olympic and Kitsap peninsulas, Whidbey Island, and in Grays Harbor County. Ward Media therefore represents a move from a large chain’s management structure to a smaller Washington-owned group, but one that still relies on shared regional operations across several mastheads.
Information checked: July 2026.
Single-Publication and Small Local News Operations
These local news organizations are separately owned and generally operate one publication or a small number of related publications.
Lynnwood Times: Independently owned by publisher Mario Lotmore, the Lynnwood Times publishes online news and periodic print editions covering Lynnwood and broader Snohomish County. Its coverage includes local government, politics, public safety, development, schools, and community affairs, along with commentary and opinion.
Methow Valley News: Independently owned and published by Don Nelson, the Methow Valley News is a weekly newspaper serving communities throughout the Methow Valley in Okanogan County. Founded in 1903, it publishes local news in print and online. Nelson, who took ownership in 2011, has written openly about the challenges of sustaining a rural newspaper and eventually finding a successor when he retires. The paper illustrates both the value of deeply rooted independent local journalism and its vulnerability when much of the operation depends on one owner-publisher and a small staff.
Prosser Record-Bulletin and Grandview Herald: These separately published weekly newspapers serve Prosser in Benton County and Grandview and nearby communities in the lower Yakima Valley. Both are locally owned under the Fournier family and publish local government, schools, sports, business, and community news. The Prosser Record-Bulletin and Grandview Herald have been under common ownership since 1970.
The Star: Published by locally owned Star Publishing Inc., The Star is a weekly newspaper serving the Grand Coulee Dam area. Editor and publisher Scott Hunter leads an operation that publishes local government, schools, public safety, community, sports, and other local news in print and online. The newspaper dates to 1945, when it was formed by consolidating the Almira News Herald and Grand Coulee News, which served Lincoln and Grant counties.
Sunnyside Sun: The Sunnyside Sun is an independently owned weekly newspaper serving Sunnyside and nearby communities in the Yakima Valley. Longtime employees Ileana Martinez and Job Wise purchased the newspaper in 2024 and became its co-owners and publishers. It publishes local government, schools, sports, business, agriculture, and community news in print and online.
Voice of the Valley: Independently owned by publisher and editor Donna Hayes, Voice of the Valley is a weekly newspaper serving Maple Valley, Black Diamond, Covington, Hobart, Ravensdale, and nearby communities in southeast King County. Established in 1969, the newspaper publishes local news and community information, including coverage of local government, schools, public safety, businesses, organizations, and events.
Whidbey Weekly: Whidbey Weekly is a free weekly print and online publication operated by Whidbey Camano SPC, a Washington social-purpose corporation. It serves Whidbey Island with community news and information, events, columns, listings, and contributed material. Its news and community content relies substantially on contributed material rather than a conventional staffed newsroom.
What audiences should know: Single-publication and small local news operations remain part of Washington’s local-news landscape alongside larger newspaper groups, nonprofit organizations, and digital publishers. Their publication schedules, staffing, amount of original reporting, and reliance on contributed material vary considerably.
Information checked: August 2026.
Introduction | Newspapers | Television | Radio | Public/Educational | Independent/Community | Indigenous/Cultural | Specialized
More sections in this guide will be published separately.