Dave Price (born 1962) is an American
journalist
A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...
who has edited, published and founded a number of
free daily newspapers
Free newspapers are distributed free of charge, often in central places in cities and towns, on public transport, with other newspapers, or separately door-to-door. The revenues of such newspapers are based on advertising. They are published at d ...
including the ''
Daily News'' and the ''
Daily Post'' in
Palo Alto, California
Palo Alto (; Spanish language, Spanish for "tall stick") is a charter city in the northwestern corner of Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a Sequoia sempervirens, coastal redwood tree kno ...
, and the ''Aspen Times Daily'' in
Aspen, Colorado
Aspen is a home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Pitkin County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 7,004 at the 2020 United States Census. Aspen is in a remote area of the Rocky Mounta ...
.
Background
Price began his career at age 15 at the Boulder (Colorado) ''Daily Camera'', where he worked in the composing room and advertising. While at the
University of Colorado
The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, University of Colorado Denver, and the University of Co ...
at Boulder, Price became a stringer for the ''
Denver Post
''The Denver Post'' is a daily newspaper and website published in Denver, Colorado. As of June 2022, it has an average print circulation of 57,265. In 2016, its website received roughly six million monthly unique visitors generating more than 13 ...
'' and had more front page bylines in 1983 than any other freelancer at the ''Post'' that year. In 1984, Price moved to Aspen, Colorado, and worked as a
reporter
A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...
at the ''Aspen Daily News''. In 1987, Price became news director and morning anchor of KSNO-FM and KTYE-AM.
Newspaper publisher and editor
In 1988, Price returned to the newspaper business. He was asked by the publisher of the ''
Aspen Times
''The Aspen Times'' is an 11,500-circulation, 7-day-a-week newspaper in the ski resort town of Aspen, Colorado, United States, with a history dating back to 1881.
History
The Aspen Weekly Times' first issue was published April 23, 1881 when Asp ...
'' weekly, Bil Dunaway, to launch a free daily newspaper to compete against the ''Aspen Daily News''. On November 9, 1988, he launched the ''Aspen Times Daily'' and was that paper's founding editor.
In 1990, Price covered the arrest of gonzo journalist
Hunter S. Thompson
Hunter Stockton Thompson (July 18, 1937 – February 20, 2005) was an American journalist and author who founded the gonzo journalism movement. He rose to prominence with the publication of '' Hell's Angels'' (1967), a book for which he s ...
on sex assault charges. The charges were dropped after Price reported that the alleged victim was an undercover agent who fabricated the assault claim in order to give the district attorney a pretext for searching Thompson's Woody Creek ranch for drugs. Thompson reprinted some of Price's stories in his 1990 book ''Gonzo Papers, Vol. 3: Songs of the Doomed: More Notes on the Death of the American Dream'' and included Price on the book's Honor Roll.
In 1992, Price moved to suburban
Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...
, where he was city editor of the ''
Morning Journal
The ''Morning Journal'' is the name of a Lisbon, Ohio, newspaper circulated in Columbiana County, Ohio
Columbiana County is a county located in the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 101,877. The county seat is Lis ...
''.
In 1995, Price relocated in Northern California and co-founded the Palo Alto ''Daily News'', another free daily newspaper. Within nine months the ''Daily News'' was in the black. At first, the ''Daily News'' was ignored or ridiculed by its competitors in the San Francisco Bay Area. However, the ''Daily News'' expanded and opened additional editions in the nearby cities of Redwood City, Burlingame, San Mateo and Los Gatos. The success of the ''Daily News'' inspired four copycat free dailies in the Bay Area.
In 2005, the parent company of the rival ''
San Jose Mercury News
''The Mercury News'' (formerly ''San Jose Mercury News'', often locally known as ''The Merc'') is a morning daily newspaper published in San Jose, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is published by the Bay Area News Group, a subsidiar ...
'',
Knight Ridder
Knight Ridder was an American media company, specializing in newspaper and Internet publishing. Until it was bought by McClatchy on June 27, 2006, it was the second largest newspaper publisher in the United States, with 32 daily newspaper brand ...
, purchased the Palo Alto ''Daily News'' and its four sister papers for $25 million. Price remained as publisher and, in May 2005, helped to start the ''
East Bay Daily News
The ''East Bay Daily News'' was a free daily newspaper in Berkeley, California published 5 days a week with an average daily circulation of 10,000. The newspaper was founded May 20, 2005 by journalist Dave Price and Jim Pavelich, who also publish ...
'', a free daily serving
Berkeley, California
Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and Emer ...
, and surrounding areas. Price retired from the ''Daily News'' in December 2005.
In 2006, Price and Jim Pavelich started a free daily newspaper in San Francisco, California, the ''San Francisco Daily'', later known as the ''
Daily Post''. With an initial press run of 5,000 copies per day and a staff of eight, the new paper used the same business model as the Palo Alto ''Daily News'', which emphasized low cost, effective advertising for small businesses and, on the news side, aggressive local coverage coupled with a summary of news from outside the community. It ceased publication in 2009.
In May 2008 Price and Palo Alto ''Daily News'' announced the creation of the ''
Daily Post,'' at the old offices of the ''Daily News'' in downtown Palo Alto. The first announced employee was former ''Daily News'' editor
Diana Diamond
Diana Diamond is an American journalist who has edited a number of newspapers including the ''The Daily News (Palo Alto), Palo Alto Daily News,'' and was a columnist at the ''Palo Alto Weekly.'' At the ''Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal,' ...
, later a columnist at the ''Palo Alto Weekly.''
''The New York Times'' did an in-depth report on the competition among Palo Alto newspapers, and much of the article focused on Price, who was described as a contrarian.
Price said he considered the term a badge of honor.
Price lives in
Palo Alto, California
Palo Alto (; Spanish language, Spanish for "tall stick") is a charter city in the northwestern corner of Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a Sequoia sempervirens, coastal redwood tree kno ...
, with his wife and their son.
Awards
*For two consecutive years (2003 and 2004), Price won the first place award for editorial writing from the California Newspaper Publishers Association for newspapers with a circulation between 25,001 and 75,000. In 2002, Price was second in this category.
*In 2001, Price won a first-place prize from the Peninsula Press Club for editorial writing, and his newspapers won nine awards from the PPC—of which he happens to be director and website editor.
*In 2002, Price won a first-place prize from the PPC for page design, an honorable mention for another entry in the same category, and a second-place trophy for editorial writing. His newspapers won 20 awards from the club.
*In 2003, Price won a second-place award for editorial writing and an honorable mention for headline writing from the PPC. His newspaper won 10 PPC awards.
*In 2004, Price won a second-place award from the PPC for the web site www.paloaltodailynews.com and an honorable mention for editorial writing. His papers won 21 awards from the PPC.
*In 2008, Price won third-place awards for headline writing and page design for work at the San Francisco Daily (now known as the Daily Post).
*In 2010, Price won first-place awards for editorial writing and headline writing in the Greater Bay Area Journalism Awards. In the same contest, he also won the second-place award for headline writing, and shared a second-place award for news series and third-place award for continuing coverage.
*In 2011, Price won first-place and second-place awards for headline writing and a second-place for editorial writing in the Greater Bay Area Journalism contest. In the same contest, which was open to all Bay Area newspapers, The Post won eight awards.
References
External links
The New York Times profiles Price and his competitors*
ttp://paloaltodailynews.com/kr-announce.html Knight Ridder buys Daily NewsDaily News publishers ride into sunsetDaily News turns 10, bloopers recalledKnight Ridder Launches New Free Daily Newspaper in East Bay
{{DEFAULTSORT:Price, Dave
Price, David
Price, David
American male journalists
Journalists from California
American newspaper chain founders
People from Aspen, Colorado
Journalists from Colorado
People from Palo Alto, California