The Daily Herald, with its website, HeraldNet.com, has been the leading news and information source in Everett and Snohomish County, Washington, for more than a century. Snohomish County is Washington’s third-largest. It is framed by Puget Sound on the west and the Cascade Mountains on the east. The county seat, Everett, is home to the Boeing Co.’s biggest airplane factory and a U.S. Navy base.
The Herald is one of more than 40 newspaper titles owned by Everett-based Sound Publishing, the largest community media organization in Washington state.
Sound Publishing is a subsidiary of Black Press Ltd. of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Founded in 1975, Black Press now publishes more than 160 newspapers and other publications in British Columbia, Alberta and Washington state, as well as the Honolulu, Hawaii, Star-Advertiser; West Hawaii Today and the Hawaii Tribune-Herald.
You can find a complete list of contact information for all departments of The Daily Herald here.
History of The Herald
The Everett Daily Herald began publishing on Jan. 5, 1901. The newspaper was owned initially by Sam A. Perkins. However, it was the family of The Herald’s original publisher, James B. Best, who would run the newspaper for the next 75 years.
James Best bought The Herald, which had a circulation of 4,250, from Perkins in 1905. At the time, there were numerous small, often short-lived, newspapers in Snohomish County. Best is credited with having the greatest influence in journalism during that time, giving the county a reliable source for news.
Best’s wife, Gertrude, reluctantly took over operation of The Herald in 1922 when James died at the age of 58. By 1926, the newspaper’s circulation topped 15,000. Gertrude oversaw The Herald for the next 17 years, establishing the paper’s photo department and publishing The Herald’s first Sunday edition. The Sunday paper would be scrapped in 1932 as the paper and region struggled through the Great Depression. The Herald was the only daily newspaper to survive.
The Bests’ son, Robert, assumed the role of publisher when Gertrude suffered a stroke in 1939. She died in 1947.
At the age of 29, Robert D. Best Sr. was a graduate of the University of Washington when he took over as publisher. Despite his young age, Robert Best already was known for his sense of business management and interest in new technology. The Herald flourished during his 37-year tenure. He led the newspaper into the modern era of computerized, photographic typesetting, color printing and community journalism.
Robert Best Sr. died of a stroke in 1976.
His son, Robert Best Jr., took over the paper but the family decided in 1978 to sell the publication to the Washington Post Co., which committed to maintain the autonomy of The Herald, the quality of news coverage and its role in the community.
Best stayed on until 1979 to complete the transition. Christopher M. Little, who had been The Washington Post newspaper’s legal counsel and director of personnel, took over as publisher for the next four years. Little re-established the Sunday edition.
Larry Hanson took over as publisher in 1984. He oversaw the paper’s switch from afternoon to morning publication in 1991. The paper also began using computers for design and layout and digital cameras for photography. The newspaper’s website also was established under Hanson’s tenure, in 1997.
From 2001 to 2011, Allen Funk presided over the newspaper. David Dadisman served as publisher from 2011 to 2013, when the Washington Post Co. sold the paper to Sound Publishing, a U.S. division of Black Press of Surrey, British Columbia.
Journalistic values
On Feb. 11, 1901, the new Herald put a stake in the ground to honor and respect objective journalistic values. In its first editorial, The Herald outlined its confidence in the potential of the area and aggressively stated its purpose and policy:
“The Herald will not be controlled by any influence not in harmony with the views here set forth. It will not be dictated to by any political faction, by any corporation, by any individual or combination of individuals. The editorial columns will be above being swayed by patronage. Space is for sale in the advertising columns alone, and no one buying such space will thereby acquire the right to color the tone of editorial expression.
“There is in this community no one so poor or insignificant that The Herald will not defend him if he be wronged, no one so high and powerful that the Herald will not fearlessly attack him if he seek to do injustice.”
This underpinning of values and resolve helped sustain The Herald through many challenging times and economic cycles.
The fundamental philosophy that our founders committed themselves to is still at the center of what we attempt to do every day.
