Alaska Dispatch was a news organization founded in 2008 and based in
Anchorage, Alaska
Anchorage () is the largest city in the U.S. state of Alaska by population. With a population of 291,247 in 2020, it contains nearly 40% of the state's population. The Anchorage metropolitan area, which includes Anchorage and the neighboring ...
. It was originally an online news outlet focusing on statewide coverage of the U.S. state of
Alaska
Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U ...
, and on circumpolar affairs and policy. In 2014, the organization purchased the ''
Anchorage Daily News
The ''Anchorage Daily News'' is a daily newspaper published by the Binkley Co., and based in Anchorage, Alaska. It is the most widely read newspaper and news website (adn.com) in the state of Alaska.
The newspaper is headquartered in Anchora ...
'' from McClatchy Newspapers, merging the two news operations under the masthead ''Alaska Dispatch News''. In 2017, the combined news organization declared bankruptcy and was sold to Binkley Group; the newspaper reverted to its previous name.
History
Alaska Dispatch began as an Alaska news
blog
A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in Reverse ...
in 2008, started by former Bloomberg and Newsweek correspondent Tony Hopfinger and his then-wife, journalist Amanda Coyne, who wrote articles and blogs for Alaska Dispatch until late 2012. In 2009, Alice Rogoff, former '' U.S. News & World Report'' chief financial officer and wife of
Carlyle Group
The Carlyle Group is a multinational private equity, alternative asset management and financial services corporation based in the United States with $376 billion of assets under management. It specializes in private equity, real assets, and ...
co-founder
David Rubenstein
David Mark Rubenstein (born August 11, 1949) is an American billionaire businessman. A former government official and lawyer, he is a co-founder and co-chairman of the private equity firm The Carlyle Group,Merrill Field Airport, where Rogoff, a licensed pilot, also houses her
Cessna 206
The Cessna 205, 206, and 207, known primarily as the Stationair (and marketed variously as the Super Skywagon, Skywagon and Super Skylane) are a family of single-engined, general aviation aircraft with fixed landing gear, used in commercial air ...
. With Rogoff's investment, the staff grew to include journalists who had previously worked for other Alaska news outlets, like the ''
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
The '' Fairbanks Daily News-Miner'' is a morning daily newspaper serving the city of Fairbanks, Alaska, the Fairbanks North Star Borough, the Denali Borough, and the Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area in the U.S. state of Alaska. It is the farthest north ...
'', the ''
Anchorage Press
The ''Anchorage Press'' is a free alternative weekly newspaper based in Anchorage, Alaska and owned by Wick Communications.
Established in 1992 by Bill Boulay, Barry Bialik, and Nick Coltman as the ''Anchorage Bypass'', it was renamed the ''Anch ...
'', local
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
affiliate KTUU and the ''
Anchorage Daily News
The ''Anchorage Daily News'' is a daily newspaper published by the Binkley Co., and based in Anchorage, Alaska. It is the most widely read newspaper and news website (adn.com) in the state of Alaska.
The newspaper is headquartered in Anchora ...
''.
In 2009, the site earned positive coverage for its series on a massacre of
caribou
Reindeer (in North American English, known as caribou if wild and ''reindeer'' if domesticated) are deer in the genus ''Rangifer''. For the last few decades, reindeer were assigned to one species, ''Rangifer tarandus'', with about 10 subspe ...
in the rural Alaska village of Point Hope. In 2010, the ''
Columbia Journalism Review
The ''Columbia Journalism Review'' (''CJR'') is a biannual magazine for professional journalists that has been published by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism since 1961. Its contents include news and media industry trends, ana ...
'' called Alaska Dispatch "a regional reporting powerhouse," while the ''American Journalism Review'' did a lengthy profile of the news site's willingness to fly a reporter thousands of miles to cover the
Deepwater Horizon oil spill
The ''Deepwater Horizon'' oil spill (also referred to as the "BP oil spill") was an industrial disaster that began on 20 April 2010 off of the coast of the United States in the Gulf of Mexico on the BP-operated Macondo Prospect, considere ...
in the
Gulf of Mexico
The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United ...
. In that same profile, an editor of the ''Anchorage Daily News'' newspaper, at the time one of the site's competitors, referred to Alaska Dispatch's coverage as inconsistent, and questioned the sustainability of its business model.
In 2011, Alaska Dispatch won first place in the breaking news category in the "Best of the West" journalism competition for its coverage of the August 2010 plane crash that killed former
U.S. Senator
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and power ...
Ted Stevens
Theodore Fulton Stevens Sr. (November 18, 1923 – August 9, 2010) was an American politician and lawyer who served as a U.S. Senator from Alaska from 1968 to 2009. He was the longest-serving Republican Senator in history at the time he left ...
and four others, beating out the larger-market '' Oregonian'' and ''
Seattle Times
''The Seattle Times'' is a daily newspaper serving Seattle, Washington, United States. It was founded in 1891 and has been owned by the Blethen family since 1896. ''The Seattle Times'' has the largest circulation of any newspaper in Washington st ...
'' newspapers for the top prize. In 2012, a report detailing the problems surrounding a remote airport project servicing the Aleutian community of Akutan won first place in the Best General Reporting category.
The site covered many statewide topics, with a particular focus on oil and gas policies in Alaska, fisheries and wildlife management, outdoor activities such as sled dog mushing and mountaineering, rural affairs and Alaska Native corporations, Alaska politics, and worldwide Arctic geopolitics and climate change. The organization also featured a "Bush Pilot" section, which covers aviation topics in Alaska and abroad.
In April 2014, it was announced that the Alaska Dispatch would be buying the ''Anchorage Daily News'' for $34 million. Now under new ownership, the ''Anchorage Daily News'' was renamed the ''Alaska Dispatch News'', reflecting the newspaper's statewide focus while preserving its recognizable "ADN" abbreviation and
domain name
A domain name is a string that identifies a realm of administrative autonomy, authority or control within the Internet. Domain names are often used to identify services provided through the Internet, such as websites, email services and more. As ...
, three months later. The news outlets merged their websites in July 2014 as well.
In 2017, Alaska Dispatch News declared bankruptcy following issues with its lease and the general downturn in newspaper circulation. The organization was sold for $1 million to the Binkley Group, and paper reverted to its previous name ''Anchorage Daily News''.
Editorial staff in 2013, prior to ADN merger
* Tony Hopfinger (executive editor)
* Mike Campbell (managing editor)
* Loren Holmes (multimedia editor / photographer)
* Eric Adams (news editor)
* Scott Woodham (news editor)
* Ben Anderson (reporter)
* Laurel Andrews (reporter)
* Jill Burke (reporter)
* Suzanna Caldwell (reporter)
* Alex DeMarban (reporter)
* Pat Forgey (reporter)
* Aaron Jansen (art director)
* Craig Medred (reporter)
* Megan Edge (calendar editor / writer)
* Tara Young (videographer)
* Jerzey Shedlock (reporter)
* Sean Doogan (reporter)
* Yereth Rosen (arctic editor / writer)
*
Rick Sinnott Rick Sinnott is a former Anchorage-area biologist for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. He retired on June 30, 2010, after 30 years of service. His professional expertise and involvement in wildlife management issues made Sinnott a frequently- ...