Deseret News starts new phase for future

Less than three years after the early settlers arrived in the Salt Lake Valley, they printed the first edition of the Deseret News on a hand-operated press brought west in a covered wagon.

That June 15, 1850, edition set in motion a rich heritage of news gathering that is carried on today, 160 years later.

Throughout the history of the Deseret News, the publication has taken advantage of new technology to expand the reach and breadth of its product.

For example, when the Pony Express arrived in the Salt Lake Valley in 1860, the Deseret News issued extra editions known as the Pony Dispatch. A new press installed in 1890 allowed the publication to print on both sides of newsprint and produce 14,000 eight-page newspapers in an hour. And the Deseret News originated a pioneering radio broadcast in 1922 from the roof of its building.

Now, in the face of media consumers demanding more than the traditional print medium, the Deseret News will respond again.

"There is clearly an entrepreneurial attitude at the Deseret News. It has been from the beginning," said Joe Cannon, Deseret News editor.

He said a clear sense of mission has set the paper apart from other organizations during its history.

"We have always been a commercial venture," Cannon said. "But at the heart of the newspaper has always been a sense of mission, of informing and edifying our readers. Within three years of a few struggling people coming to this valley, we published a newspaper. They had to get a press and get the press out here. And that was an important enough objective to do that. And we have kept up with technology ever since."

Now the Deseret News starts a new phase in its history, Cannon continued. "We are still going to be doing the best journalism. But many more millions of people will read us online than in print."

Still, he added, the Deseret News will print a daily paper for as long as people want to read papers. "We are going to create information and stories indefinitely," he said.