As legacy newspapers weaken, Alaska sees rise of ‘independent’ outlets with ideological stripes

By SUZANNE DOWNING

Alaska’s local news landscape is undergoing another shift, driven not only by corporate consolidation and shrinking print revenues, but also by journalists and activists on the political left breaking away from their newspaper bosses to form nonprofit publications they describe as “independent.”

The trend mirrors a broader national decline in traditional newspapers. Last week, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, one of the oldest and largest newspapers in the United States, printed its final daily edition and announced it is moving to an all-digital model, another signal that the traditional newspaper business is rapidly eroding.

In Alaska, that erosion has created an opening for ideologically aligned nonprofits to step into the void, branding themselves as neutral community alternatives while being staffed, governed, and funded by activists with strong political leanings.

In Juneau, the break came in 2025 after disputes between newsroom leadership and Carpenter Media Group, which owns other local papers, including the Juneau Empire.

Former Empire editor Mark Sabbatini left the paper in June, following disagreements over cost-cutting and editorial direction. Sabbatini has said he quit and was also effectively fired during the dispute.

Shortly afterward, he launched the Juneau Independent, a nonprofit, online-only publication marketed as a locally controlled alternative to corporate media. By late summer 2025, much of the Empire’s newsroom staff had followed him, leaving the paper hollowed out and being run by people in Kenai and Canada.

The resulting “independent” outlet reflects a distinctly progressive worldview rather than a genuinely neutral reset. Democrat activists are involved on the board.

That same dynamic is now playing out on the southern Kenai Peninsula.

On Jan. 1, the Homer Independent Press launched as a nonprofit alternative to the Homer News, which is also owned by Carpenter Media Group.

In its launch statement, the new organization said local residents felt the Homer News had declined in quality and integrity. The group said it sought views from “both sides of the political spectrum” and described the Homer area as politically “purple.”

Yet governance details complicate the claim of neutrality. The nonprofit, formally known as NZP4H, or “No Zombie Newspapers for Homer,” is run by a board that includes figures with explicit political ties; one board member is an elected official on the Homer City Council.

While the Homer Independent Press says its bylaws prevent board members and donors from influencing editorial content and that it will follow Society of Professional Journalists standards, the model substitutes one form of influence for another: replacing corporate ownership with ideologically homogeneous leadership.

Together, the developments in Juneau and Homer highlight two simultaneous realities.

First, traditional newspapers, especially in small and mid-sized markets, are increasingly fragile. Cost-cutting, reduced staffing, and the collapse of print advertising have left once-dominant papers vulnerable, a problem now evident nationwide as even major outlets abandon print entirely.

Second, the vacuum is increasingly being filled not by politically neutral startups, but by nonprofit newsrooms rooted in activist cultures that lean heavily left, even as they market themselves as independent or community-driven. These nonprofit leftist newsrooms don’t want to pay taxes. They form up 501(c)(3) corporations to place themselves in a special category and tax loophole that foists their share off to other businesses and citizens. It’s almost as if they are as clever as the capitalists they criticize.