North Idaho Coffee Shop Blasts Coeur d’Alene Press’ Bias

By Greg Pruett • November 26, 2024

A coffee shop owner in Coeur d’Alene blasted the liberal Coeur d’Alene Press for attacking the shop when it opened several years ago.

Dave Miller owns Lyfe Public House, a coffee shop that also serves food and alcohol and hosts live music. The company’s website has an “About” section that discusses its origin story. Part of that page says,

“Lyfe Public House was born out of the desire for the Miller’s to establish a place where people could gather, shed their stress, enjoy good coffee, food, and even better company. Having spent the better part of their adult lives in the public and private business sectors, the thought of living out their freedom everyday as business owners, while still supporting the community that they love, excited them to pursue this new adventure.”

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In a video posted on LYFE’s Facebook page, Miller stands in front of CDA Press’s office and blasts the news organization for its operation. He also talks about the Hagadone Corporation, which operates the Coeur d’Alene Resort and the CDA Press.

When Miller opened his business in January 2022, the CDA Press offered to do a story about its opening. Miller was excited about getting some coverage from a local news organization, as any business owner would be. In the video linked above, Miller says that he grew up with the CDA Press and thought they were a community-driven news organization.

In the Facebook video, Miller says that something about it felt a little strange when he was interviewed. When the story finally ran, Miller said he was shocked at how bad it was and couldn’t understand why he was being targeted, and in particular, why they seemed to be targeting his daughter and wife.

Additionally, the article is one of the most egregious hit pieces I have seen on a local Idaho business in quite some time. While the Millers may be conservative, they opened their business doors to everyone in the community. They wanted to focus, as a business, on serving the people of Coeur d’Alene some good drinks and food.

However, the article mentioned an independent news outlet, the Kootenai County Spectator. The CDA Press details the individual who owns that news outlet. Because she praised the Millers, somehow does that make Miller a bad guy and far right?

Again, the article is really strange, and you almost have to read it to understand the insane level of disservice the CDA Press did against Miller and his business. It wasn’t journalism; it was an attack on conservatives.

Idaho Dispatch contacted Miller to find out what prompted the video he posted two and a half years after the CDA Press article was published. Miller told Idaho Dispatch that he has been explaining to the public the situation his company faces and the hardships it is going through for weeks. You can see those videos on the LYFE Facebook page.

Idaho Dispatch and Miller agreed to conduct a video interview soon.

Liberal media bias is the reason the Idaho Dispatch started. We would not exist if the mainstream media did its job and told both sides of the story without hidden agendas.

Our goal, however, is to present all sides of a story, and we will continue to do so.