Early history The
Anchorage Daily News was born as the weekly
Anchorage News, publishing its first issue January 13, 1946. The paper's founder and first publisher was Norman C. Brown. The early president of the paper's parent company was Harry J. Hill, who was also assistant treasurer of
The Lathrop Company. This established the theory that Cap Lathrop was really behind the publication, but didn't wish to have his name formally associated with it, unlike his other newspapers such as the
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. Brown did share Lathrop's views on
the statehood issue. Brown became a leader in the short-lived mid-1950s movement to turn Alaska into a commonwealth rather than a state. The newspaper became an afternoon daily in May 1948, although it wouldn't publish a Sunday newspaper until June 13, 1965. By then, the
Anchorage Daily News had become a morning newspaper, making that switch on April 13, 1964. By the 1970s, the gradual downturn in the newspaper industry was taking its toll on the
ADN. Lawrence Fanning had purchased the paper in 1968, but suffered a heart attack at his desk and died in 1971. His widow,
Katherine Woodruff "Kay" Fanning, took over. Kay Fanning had previously been married into the
Marshall Field family (she was the mother of
Ted Field). This was of no help to her, as the paper plunged further into debt as the decade wore on. In 1974, Fanning entered into a
joint operating agreement with the
Anchorage Times.
Times publisher
Robert Atwood cancelled the agreement 4 years later. By this point, the paper's news-gathering and editorial operations were operating out of a small two-story storefront building at the corner of West Seventh Avenue and I Street.
Purchase by the McClatchy Company The McClatchy Company purchased the
Daily News in 1979, when it bought a controlling interest from Kay Fanning, who had been
editor and
publisher since Larry Fanning's death in 1971.
Kay Fanning continued as the head of the paper until mid-1983. While retaining some financial interest in the paper, she went on to become the editor of
The Christian Science Monitor. The
Daily News was the first of two newspapers that the then-122-year-old, California-based, McClatchy Company bought outside the state; the
Kennewick, Washington,
Tri-City Herald was the next. McClatchy would later grow to become a national newspaper company, including the purchase of the
Knight-Ridder chain in 2006.
Purchase by the Alaska Dispatch In April, 2014, it was announced that the
Alaska Dispatch web publication would be buying the
Anchorage Daily News for US$34 million. The deal closed in May 2014. On Sunday, July 20, 2014, the
Alaska Dispatch, renamed the paper the
Alaska Dispatch News.
Binkley Co. ownership Adn.com announced on August 13, 2017, that it had filed for bankruptcy after being sued for back rent by Alaska telecommunications company
GCI. Control of operations was immediately assumed by a group led by Ryan Binkley of Fairbanks, who were in the process of purchasing the paper. Binkley is the son of
John Binkley, a Republican politician. In November 2017, the paper's Facebook page reverted its name back to
Anchorage Daily News; the paper itself rebranded to
Anchorage Daily News on November 18. Binkley Co. acquired the
Alaska Journal of Commerce in 2018. In 2019, Binkley Co. acquired the
Arctic Sounder, the
Bristol Bay Times and the
Dutch Harbor Fisherman. In April 2024, the newspaper's staff was informed by management that the paper will reduce the number of print editions from six to two a week. Newsroom staff launched a campaign to unionize in September 2024, and voted two months later 13-4 in favor of unionization. A contract was ratified in March 2026, making the first newsroom in Alaska to have a union contract. ==Pulitzer Prizes==