Comma Connects: The community response to the new nonprofit newspaper model is overwhelming

The call came into the newsroom. A longtime reader named Bob was waiting in the lobby.

I went down with my colleague Donna Wares. When we arrived, Bob picked up his cane and pushed his way off the couch. I held his forearm to help him stand.

“I like to do things in person,” he said, having walked in from a dreary and cold day in Spokane.

Bob reached into his pocket and pulled out a new, crisp $100 bill.

I want to help, he said.

Donna and I both were overcome. “Would it be appropriate if I gave you a hug?” Donna said. Bob nodded, smiled, and she hugged him.

Donna and I have spent decades as professional journalists; I’m coming up on my 45th year. We both agree: Neither of us has seen the outpouring of support for a newspaper that we’ve seen in Spokane this year. It truly is incredible.

In April, The Spokesman-Review announced that the Cowles family was giving up its century-old ownership in the newspaper and donating it to the community. The ownership would be transferred to Comma Community Journalism Lab, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit run by Spokesman-Review editor Rob Curley and founding partner Scott de Rozic, an entrepreneur and former adjunct business professor at Gonzaga University.

Donna and I arrived in October, the first newsroom employees of Comma as managing editors. Part of our job is to manage the transition of the newsroom to Comma. But we’re also watching the transformation of the newspaper from a family-owned newspaper to the community’s newspaper.

We’ve seen people like Bob walk into the lobby, neighborhood house parties and Northwest Passages events with cash, checks – as little as $5 – and have met people who are giving thousands to be part of Comma’s First Amendment Club. Just as we left Bob and went back up to the newsroom, Scott met us with a big smile saying he’d received a $500,000 pledge from a local business. With guidance from Yvonne Esquibel Smith, Comma’s director of development and community engagement, people also are sharing stocks and Required Minimum Distributions from retirement accounts to support the new newspaper ownership.

Rob received a check at his house for $25 with a note saying they wished they could give more but this was all they could afford.

As the news industry flounders and is under fire, Spokane is rallying to save its newspaper. People tell us they do not want to see The Spokesman-Review bought by a hedge fund, as has happened in so many communities. In 2023, two newspapers closed each week across the country.

It’s the opposite in Spokane, where Rob devised a unique nonprofit strategy that provides revenue from subscriptions, charitable donations, grant funding and traditional advertising. Rob began explaining his theory to me seven years ago amid a corporate takeover of the Hutchinson News, the small newspaper in Kansas where I was editor. I was swallowed in darkness and depression, but he promised that the days could be brighter.

I’m seeing those days now. I moved to Spokane to help. I also see first-hand that it can work.

Comma is about more than just saving one newspaper. It began republishing The Black Lens, the Black community’s newspaper, bringing back the publication after the death of founder Sandy Williams. Comma is partnering with local schools and colleges to restart journalism programs and student news publications, some that ceased more than a dozen years ago.

Professional journalists will work with professional educators to develop curriculum to teach media literacy and how to spot misinformation and propaganda. (Journalists: Remember Newspapers in Education? Well, this is NIE brought back for the 21st century.) As a result, students will again get civics lessons.

Circulation will also get a makeover. This newspaper will be for everyone. As part of the educational partnerships, every student in two public school districts and five regional colleges and universities will receive digital subscriptions. For the community, subscriptions will come on a voluntary sliding scale. We have people offering to pay $1,000 to $3,000 for a year’s subscription that will help provide free newspapers to people who can’t afford one.

We’re going to bring back newspaper boxes. They will be given to artists or creative groups to develop into art installations. Think how communities have dressed up traffic signal boxes. They will be placed, and mapped, around town, with free newspapers for those who want them.

For journalists, we’re trying to make jobs more stable and secure. Reporters will get two-year contracts with built-in cost-of-living increases. And we’re creating more journalism jobs. Plans are to revive five rural weekly newspapers that have stopped publishing within the next two years. Student journalists will work alongside and learn from professionals. We expect a newsroom now at 55 to grow its ranks in 2026. And we’re developing a vehicle for public accountability and to build trust.

The Spokesman-Review’s popular Northwest Passages Book Club has brought the community together to talk about books and ideas with bestselling authors for eight years and built the foundation of the Comma Community Journalism Lab. Northwest Passages also hosts forums to explain ballot issues and current events, along with candidate debates where high school debate teams ask the questions. The idea behind all of this is to make sure voices that aren’t usually represented in the news media are heard.

I know. For journalists who have watched the slow demise of newsrooms over the past two decades, this seems too good to be true. But I’m seeing this firsthand. Budgets are being built. Community support is like nothing I’ve ever seen.

Comma is not continuing legacy media. Comma is a disruptor. The goal is to change the way news organizations operate without sacrificing ethical integrity. We’re remaking the way newsrooms operate, the role of advertising and even how the paper is delivered. The status quo is not our plan.

The bottom line here is that it’s all scalable. If we can make it work in Spokane, it can be replicated in other communities across the nation.

This is about finding a way to make local journalism survive and thrive. I compare what’s happening at The Spokesman-Review to the Green Bay Packers, the NFL team owned by the fans. Our readers will own the newspaper. And while editorial decisions remain the province of the newsroom professionals, the community will have a voice. If they have a complaint, we will have an ombudsman in the newsroom to investigate and explain.

If you’re interested in news, especially local news, I hope you’ll follow Comma’s page on LinkedIn or stay tuned to my updates.

Come along on our journey.

Ron Sylvester is managing editor/news for Comma. Reach Ron at ron@comma.cm or rons@spokesman.com