Local News Day: Juneau has been home to at least 70 newspapers during the past 140 years

Robust competition including gunplay and fisticuffs, notable contributions from Alaska Natives, and two previous ‘Independent’ newspapers among capital city’s chronicles

Some of the mainstream and specialized newspapers of Juneau’s past. (Alaska State Library Historical Collections)

Editor’s note: Thursday, April 9, 2026, has been designated Local News Day by a coalition of journalists and publications, including the Juneau Independent, with a goal to "reconnect people to trusted local outlets." This article offering an overview of Juneau’s history of local newspapers was originally presented in a slightly modified form during a Juneau Independent fundraiser Feb. 19.

By Laury Roberts Scandling

Juneau journalism has had a long, rich — and sometimes nasty — history for 140 years. There have been no fewer than 70 local papers during that time. 

Publishing — from Gutenberg to Tik Tok — has long been the handmaiden of power and politics. Half of the 18 appointed territorial governors had been journalists, including the last: Ernest Gruening. Three governors — and a couple legislators — published papers in Juneau while they were in office. 

Local papers were unashamedly partisan, megaphones for boosterism, mining, workers’ rights, religious affiliates, candidates, and political parties. My favorite was “The Boob,” promoting a 1918 Congressional candidate. 

For the first half of Juneau’s history, journalistic competition was robust. By 1894, four weeklies bitterly battled for readers and lucrative government notices. Gunplay and fisticuffs were not unknown. One editor shot another in the head. The victim survived; the vitriol continued.   

In the early 1900s, FOUR dailies vied for subscriptions and ads amongst the 6,000 who lived along the channel – despite the fact that most of the couple-thousand miners didn’t speak English. 

Fierce rivalry exploded in 1908 when the First National Bank president, a stockholder in the Record, beat up the editor of the Dispatch who then shot the banker. The next year, acrimony and name-calling were so relentless that all four editors were indicted for criminal libel.

The Empire was born of political opportunism in 1912. Three days before the national election, John Franklin Armstrong rolled the presses, betting the stunt would snag him the governor’s seat. He was right. Two years later, John Troy took over the paper and used it to destroy Franklin by exposing his bigamy and lack of U.S. citizenship. Troy also leveraged the Empire into a gubernatorial appointment for himself, but was removed five years later when the feds realized the paper was enriching itself with government contracts.

I would be remiss if I did not honor Alaska Native activists and journalists who published out of Juneau, including the Peck family of Angoon with Charlotte Sieverly of Juneau; and William Paul, Alaska’s first Native attorney and legislator. For too many years the mainstream media gave scant attention to the Alaska Native community.

Strong women have contributed to Juneau journalism since 1912 when Socialist mayoral candidate Lena Morrow Lewis started a Sunday paper. Other early female reporters included Dorothy Haley Pegues, Ann DeLong, Betty Annis, and Rie Munoz. Stroller White’s wife, Josie, published the Douglas Island News while he served in the Legislature, 1920 and 1921…and John Troy’s daughter, Helen, ran the Empire for 23 years until it sold in 1955. 

You probably know that there have been two previous newspapers named “The Independent” — both started by disgruntled Empire reporters.

The point is this: Juneau has long supported lively, politically-attuned, competitive journalism representing many voices and we have a civic duty to continue that.

I want to leave you with a quote from the Douglas Island News, which published for 25 years. This is from its first edition in 1896, 130 years ago:

“The live and prosperous towns of Douglas and Treadwell are certainly entitled to one, good, wide-awake newspaper…and it will be our desire to supply the adjunct that is so necessary to the upbuilding of cities . . . and whether or not we succeed in our efforts, we leave that to you to decide.”

I thank you and encourage you to check out 40-plus years of history journalism at juneauhistory.org.

• Laury Roberts Scandling, who first came to Juneau as a radio reporter 48 years ago, is a board member of the Gastineau Channel Historical Society who edits and produces the twice-yearly Gastineau Heritage News. She is also a former past president of the League of Women Voters in Juneau and a former 20-year employee of the Juneau School District, retiring as assistant superintendent in 2012.