The to-do list never ends for Gabriel Cruden, who is reviving his hometown newspaper in Colville, a historic lumber town in Washington’s northeast corner.
The Statesman-Examiner was teetering under chain ownership until it was acquired two years ago by Cruden, who worked in its photography department during high school and as a reporter after college.
Among his first tasks as publisher were hiring a new editor and upgrading the circulation system, which was running on an ancient MS-DOS computer with a dot matrix printer.
Soon the weekly will also get its first full-time reporter, through the revamped Washington news fellowship program.
The Statesman-Examiner is one of six outlets chosen to host the program’s next cohort of early-career journalists, five of whom are expected to start in January.
Washington State University is partnering with Boston-based nonprofit Report for America to expand the program and eventually place a reporter in all 39 of Washington counties.
The state began funding the fellowship in 2023 but pared its budget last year.
That led WSU to partner with Report for America on a new version based on the nonprofit’s model, in which newsrooms provide around half the fellows’ salary and funds are raised to cover the rest.
Earlier this month they announced the first six participating newsrooms, in Stevens, Grant, Chelan, Spokane, San Juan and Cowlitz counties.
Applications for the reporting positions close on Sunday. As of Tuesday, 24 people completed applications and dozens more started the online process, according to Jody Brannon, fellowship program manager at WSU.
Placements last two to three years, depending on what the outlets and fellows decide.
At the Statesman-Examiner, the fellow will cover Stevens County, municipal news and other stories that the current crew — a single editor, Cami Krema, plus freelancers and periodic interns — doesn’t have time to report.
“Having this kind of support provides an opportunity for us to be able to get the quality journalism, reporting, that we look for of our city and county government and of our courthouse,” Cruden said. “Right now it’s hit and miss whether we can consistently provide that.”
The program includes coaching in how to build a sustainable news business and develop fundraising programs.
Cruden, in turn, will offer tips to the fellow on covering his old beats and photography, which was what initially drew him into the business.
“That’s my intention. I’ve done all the roles,” he said.
Cruden, 50, left the paper for a career in communications and economic development before acquiring the Statesman-Examiner and Deer Park Tribune weeklies from Illinois-based Horizon Publications. He also owns two other publications and a local media company.
“Seeing our local newspaper on the brink of closure, I just felt like I had to step in and see what I could do to change the situation,” he said.
The Statesman-Examiner is adding subscribers every week and reaches around 3,200 households each week, including around 1,300 paid subscribers.
Another fellow will be placed at The Inlander, a Spokane weekly that employs seven journalists and prints 45,000 papers a week.
Publisher Ted McGregor, Jr., applied unsuccessfully to host a fellow during the program’s earlier iteration. He said the fellow will cover government, the environment and other topics and have opportunities to write cover stories.
“We think a new writer’s going to have a lot to work with here (including) big projects they can pick away at in the background while they have weekly deadlines,” he said.
Fellows will also be hosted by The Wenatchee World, to cover Chelan County and local governments, and The Quincy Valley Post Register in Grant County. Both are owned by Arizona-based Wick Communications, and fellows will also contribute work to its Wenatchee TV station. Publisher Sean Flaherty declined to comment at this point on the program.
A fellow was also placed at The Daily News in Longview, which is owned by Iowa-based chain Lee Enterprises, but it’s deferring the fellow’s start until mid-2027.
Another will cover San Juan County for the Salish Current, a nonprofit digital outlet. The Salish Current is a virtual operation with one full-time employee, an editor based in Bellingham, so it’s not yet clear where the fellow will reside.
Expanding coverage of San Juan County has been a priority for the last five years, said Mike Sato, the outlet’s co-founder and volunteer managing editor.
“We’ve been trying pretty hard to get some coverage out there but it’s been really difficult using freelancers,” he said.
Raising funds to cover the Salish Current’s share of the San Juan County fellow’s salary shouldn’t be a problem.
Expanding coverage of San Juan County has been a priority for the last five years, said Mike Sato, the outlet’s co-founder and volunteer managing editor.
“We’ve been trying pretty hard to get some coverage out there but it’s been really difficult using freelancers,” he said.
Raising funds to cover the Salish Current’s share of the San Juan County fellow’s salary shouldn’t be a problem.
Despite some disagreements over details of the program, I think it’s been a success. I was especially glad to hear from Brannon that nine of the 16 original fellows went on to full-time jobs.
Two others continue to work as stringers, doing freelance work, and could potentially be hired as well, she said.
Brannon said the next cohort should include 13 journalists by the end of 2027.
Perhaps even more of them will end up with permanent jobs, if the additional news coverage helps local outlets around the state add subscribers and grow their businesses.
This is excerpted from the free, weekly Voices for a Free Press newsletter. Sign up to receive it at the Save the Free Press website. Seattle Times’ Brier Dudley is the editor of the Free Press Initiative, which aims to inform the public about issues facing newspapers, local news coverage, and a free press. You can learn more about the Free Press Initiative, or sign up for a newsletter, at https://company.seattletimes.com/save-the-free-press/.
