While nearly 40 percent of American newspapers have closed their doors over the past two decades, a family-owned daily in Lewiston, Idaho is fighting back with an unconventional strategy: print everything and sell it to anyone.
The Lewiston Tribune — founded more than a century ago by ancestors of the current owner, roughly 40 years after Idaho’s first newspaper began publishing in Lewiston in 1862 — has grown far beyond its newsroom roots. Today, the Tribune produces gift wrap, butcher paper, medical devices, educational materials, and ammunition components. It operates digital billboards and runs an internet broadcast studio. Its printing facilities churn out nearly $5 million in annual gross revenue from commercial contracts alone.
At the center of that push is Nathan Alford, a fourth-generation family owner who trained as a lawyer before taking the helm of the newspaper. Alford is candid about the financial reality facing independent papers: profit margins at the Tribune currently sit at just 2 to 3 percent. His target is 10 percent — and he believes the path there runs through ink, machinery, and relentless reinvention.
“We need to get to 10… we’ve got to look at the world a little bit differently, you know. We’ve got to have the founders’ mindset, and we got to hustle, man,” Alford said.
A Press Room That Doubles as a Manufacturing Floor
The Tribune’s production infrastructure is a patchwork of savvy acquisitions and vintage machinery. In 2008, the paper invested $8.5 million in a German-made Manroland printing press, at the time described as the newest press west of the Mississippi River. That investment now underpins a commercial printing operation that serves clients far beyond the daily newspaper.
Elsewhere on the production floor sits a slitter rewinder acquired at no cost, and a repurposed Webtron 8000 label press that was originally put to work at the 1974 World’s Fair in Spokane, Washington. The machine used to cut gift wrap dates to 1964 — older than some of the Tribune’s current journalists.
That journalism staff, though lean, remains the paper’s editorial backbone: 10 reporters and 2 full-time photographers covering the Lewis-Clark Valley and surrounding region. In a national media landscape where fewer than 15 percent of American daily newspapers remain independently owned, the Tribune’s editorial independence is itself a point of distinction.
A Family Legacy Built on Adaptation
The Alford family’s connection to the Tribune spans generations. Butch Alford, now an octogenarian, joined the paper in 1961 and remains a symbol of the institutional continuity that the Tribune’s leadership sees as an asset rather than a burden. Nathan Alford draws on that history while pushing aggressively into new markets and revenue streams.
His ambition is not modest. “Our plan is to be the last kingdom of printing in the Northwest,” Alford said — a statement that captures both the competitive posture and the survivalist logic behind the Tribune’s diversification drive.
The approach reflects a broader truth about community journalism in the 21st century: the outlets most likely to survive are those willing to rethink what a newspaper actually is. For the Tribune, it is as much a manufacturing operation as a media company — one that happens to still employ reporters, hold local government accountable, and publish a daily edition in a region where local coverage continues to matter deeply to residents who rely on it.
What Comes Next
Alford’s stated goal is to close the gap between current margins and the 10 percent threshold he considers sustainable for the long term. Whether that target is achievable depends on continued growth in commercial printing contracts, expansion of the Tribune’s non-newspaper product lines, and the ability to hold together a newsroom of experienced journalists in a challenging recruiting environment. For now, the Tribune stands as one of the more unusual success stories in American local media — a paper that found its footing not by shrinking, but by building. For more on Idaho community news and statewide developments, visit Idaho News.