Yesterday, over the Sunday paper, my wife said “There’s the best editorial in the ADN this morning. It’s even-handed, positive and encouraging. We’re so lucky to have such a great newspaper.”
Today, while I was driving to the drug store, I was thinking about that comment and my own 40-plus-year history with the ADN. When the Binkleys rescued our last daily paper from the Alaska Dispatch News financial debacle, my first thought as a longtime, loyal subscriber was “Thank God someone stepped up.” But honestly, as a nonpartisan voter, my immediate second thought was “Uh-oh, they’ve been associated with the Republican Party for a long time. I hope we don’t end up with a partisan rag.” Much to my delight — and, frankly, surprise — during the next few months, those doubts were firmly laid to rest. As I pulled into the drug store parking lot, I decided it was way past time for writing a letter thanking the owners for running a damn fine newspaper.
In a timely coincidence, when I got home, we put on PBS News; one of the the very first stories was about the Anchorage Daily News winning a Pulitzer Prize — the third Pulitzer the ADN has won during my time as a subscriber. Wow! That clinched it. Definitely writing that letter to the owners of the ADN:
Thank you for saving our daily newspaper.
Thank you for adhering to honest and even-handed journalistic standards.
And now I get the genuine pleasure of adding this, too: Congratulations to reporter Kyle Hopkins, his colleagues, his editor and his owners and publishers for winning the Pulitzer Prize for the articles on the crisis in Alaska rural law enforcement. A fantastic and well-deserved recognition.
My wife stated it perfectly: “We’re so lucky to have such a great newspaper.”
— Kenneth Higgins
Anchorage
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