Daily Sitka Sentinel

New ADN Owner Sees Future for Newspaper

By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
    The new owners of the Alaska Dispatch News see a bright future for the publication that includes a renewed focus on Anchorage, shoring up the confidence of readers and a streamlined business plan.
    “We believe this newspaper is critical to the state of Alaska,” ADN co-publisher Ryan Binkley said in a speech to state business and political leaders Wednesday.
    Binkley spoke at the joint luncheon meeting of the Sitka Chamber of Commerce and Alaska State Chamber of Commerce, which is having its annual convention here.

Ryan Binkley gives the keynote speech at the Alaska Chamber of Commerce Fall Forum Wednesday. (Sentinel Photo by James Poulson)

    The awards banquet and gala was held Wednesday night. (See story, this page.)
    Binkley’s keynote address to the Chamber followed a video presentation by Sen. Lisa Murkowski, speaking from Washington, D.C.
    In his half-hour talk, Binkley told of events that led up to his family’s purchase of the state’s biggest newspaper as well as the reasons he and his family believe it was a good idea.
    Binkley was born and raised in Alaska, a fourth-generation riverboat captain who runs his family’s riverboat business in Fairbanks. His partner in the newspaper enterprise is Jason Evans, the president of Rural Energy Enterprises and owner of Alaska Media LLC, which owns three newspapers in rural Alaska.
    In August, Binkley and Evans announced that they had made “a bold first step to ensure the future of the Alaska Dispatch News going forward” by entering an agreement to purchase the ADN and take control of the newspaper’s operations. The announcement came at the same time that the newspaper filed for bankruptcy protection. The bankruptcy judge approved the sale Sept. 11.
    The decision to take over Alaska’s largest circulation newspaper and adn.com, the state’s dominant news website, was motivated by both business and social reasons, Binkley said.
    “We’re entrepreneurs, we’re small-business people,” Binkley said. “While it has a big social value, it has to be (operated) like a business and we believe it will be.”
    He said his interest in newspapers started a few years ago when the Fairbanks News Miner was up for sale. While his family’s offer to purchase the publication was topped by a competitor, he said his research leading up to the offer gave him new insight into the newspaper industry.
    “I started to realize the newspaper industry is not dying, but thriving in certain communities,” he said. He continued looking for opportunities, which came in April when, in response to financial pressure, the owners of the ADN said they were willing to sell.
    The company that owned ADN filed for bankruptcy in August; Binkley’s company bought the assets and moved forward.
    “On September 4th we were off and running,” Binkley said.
    In discussing why he believes newspapers are still a good business investment, he gave the audience a short summary of how technology developments from the 1970s through the 2000s have affected the industry. While production technology drove production costs down, other developments – like the rise of social media as news sources – created competition for readers, and the industry was initially slow to react.
    “(Digital news) is the last frontier for the news business, and we’re navigating it now,” Binkley said. “We’re reaching the tipping point in terms of digital news and how we’re delivering news.”
    While Facebook and Google dominate the market, he said, “they have a credibility problem.”
    The business plan for the future of the ADN calls for cutting costs and building on the newspaper’s strengths. That includes providing balanced, high quality reporting of the greater Anchorage area.
    “Pouring ourselves into accuracy, fairness and accountability,” he said. “Without the confidence of our readers, we’re nothing. The confidence was shaken recently; we want to bring it back.” He said the ADN can reach seven out of 10 adults in the Anchorage area.
    “We have Alaska’s largest audience,” Binkley said.
    Other plans in the works include a print edition format change in November, and outsourcing the printing of the paper. Starting in two weeks, the paper will be printed on the presses of the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman newspaper in Wasilla, and the company will shut down the printing plant it has been operating in quarters leased from GCI.
    Binkley said he has been heartened by the response to his family’s purchase of the newspaper, which tells him that the community values its newspaper.
    “The audience is still there,” he said. “We’ve been blown away by gratitude we’ve received in the last couple of weeks, months. The people of Anchorage want this newspaper to continue.”