Op-Ed: Idaho Dispatch Celebrates One Year Anniversary

In March of 2020, I had heard from many Idahoans that Idaho lacked something that was desperately needed in the world of journalism.

Many Idahoans that I spoke to felt that the news was pushing an agenda too much. They felt that Idaho’s journalists were putting their personal bias into articles and not being objective.

So, I decided it was time to start a news organization, and on June 3, 2020, the Idaho Dispatch was founded.

When Idaho Dispatch started, I wanted to make sure that despite whatever personal opinions and political beliefs I had, none of it would make it into articles that we wrote at Idaho Dispatch. We also wanted to make sure that we would do everything in our power to get both sides of a story, or more if there were more.

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Additionally, our goal at Idaho Dispatch is to not take people out of context and not cut their quotes.

Unless someone sends us an extremely lengthy quote, we put the entire quote in the article. We don’t change it or shorten it or take out portions that we may personally disagree with.

We even put in one quote where the individual we sought the quote from attacked me personally.

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Despite what some individuals may feel about me personally, the readers of Idaho Dispatch have appreciated our efforts. Many people have asked us if we are liberal or conservative because they say they can’t tell.

And isn’t that the goal of the media? Isn’t the objective to report the news and not push an agenda?

The response we have received from Idaho Dispatch readers has been incredible. Individuals from all sides of the political spectrum have told us they are grateful for our efforts to bring them news without hyperbole.

Readers have said they are refreshed by just being told what the facts of a story are and not being told what or how to think.

One reader told us that our articles are how journalism used to be forty-five years ago!

Another individual who has to deal with the media constantly told me that he had never heard of the Idaho Dispatch. After reviewing some of our articles, he said that he couldn’t figure out which way our political leanings were.

Talk bout a complement to what our goals have been all along.

That isn’t to say that Idaho Dispatch will be perfect or that we won’t make mistakes in the future, but it isn’t deliberate, and we always admit our mistakes when we make them.

Now it is time for Idaho Dispatch to increase our efforts over the next year.

We hope to increase the amount of content we put out and cover even more events in Idaho. Additionally, we hope that you will subscribe to Idaho Dispatch and help it grow even more!

You can become a subscriber by going to idahodispatch.com/subscribe, and for as little as $2.97 a month, you can help us grow! Additionally, if you own a company or know a company that would love to advertise with us, please send an email to info@idahodispatch.com, and we’ll give you the details.

Finally, here are the Top 5 stories by “Page View” from this last year:

1. Gov. Little Signs Gun Bill Into Law
2. Four Idaho Cities Issue Proclamations for Gun Control Groups
3. Black Lives Matter to Hold Another “Defund the Police” Protest in Boise
4. Boise City Councilmember Doesn’t Have Kids Because of White People?
5. What Happened in Boise with BLM Protesters and Counter-Protesters?

What story did you think was the biggest over this last year? Let us know in the comments below.