The Daily Press debuted Nov. 13, 2001 with eight pages and a distribution of 4,000 copies. It was the only daily paper that was launched anywhere in the country that year.
Today, we fluctuate between 16 and 20 pages, and have a circulation of more than 15,000. The SMDP was always envisioned to be a grassroots, local paper that remains unbiased and unchained from the political vortex this town, or any town, can sometimes suck people into.
We call it a “micro daily,” meaning it’s tabloid-sized, local and free. It’s this last thing — the “free” bit — that sets us apart from most dailies in the country. We are one of a small number of micro dailies that have begun publishing in the U.S. during the last 20 years.
It takes a reader only a few minutes of reading the letters to the editor to understand Santa Monica’s belief that it is unique — as a debating community, as a vital place to live, vacation, work and — yes, eat and go out. It is also a business center, with all the business issues and controversies that surround it.
When the Santa Monica Outlook published its final edition March 14, 1998, citizens and policy makers publicly lamented the loss of a daily newspaper. The failure of the Outlook seemed an embarrassment to Santa Monica, but in reality it was more of an embarrassment for Copley, the corporation that bought it and folded much of its operations into the Daily Breeze in Torrance. We judged as untrue the resulting conclusion that Santa Monica couldn’t support its own daily.
And that’s why you’re reading this newspaper today.
The SMDP is distinct because we’re able to provide you with what the news is today, not a week ago. When the Farmers’ Market tragedy occurred downtown in July, the SMDP was on scene within seconds and was able to give readers the next day first-hand accounts through stories, photos and Associated Press coverage. AP photographers used our offices on the Promenade to distribute photos throughout the world.
As a daily, the SMDP follows issues from the beginning to the end. Our journalists give readers every possible angle on a story and we don’t stop reporting on the news just because we wrote about it once.
With the community’s support, we hope one day that the SMDP will grow to 60 pages, provide comprehensive news coverage and have a circulation of 50,000. Our online version, which is e-mailed to 5,000 subscribers every day, continues to grow. The idea of sending a laid-out version of the paper to residents was born at 1 a.m. at a back table at Renee’s bar on Wilshire Boulevard.
But to expand and be more things to more people, we need the support of advertisers — use the SMDP to find that new car your looking for, or to find an apartment in the classified section, or to find a restaurant to visit. If you’ll do that, we’ll keep giving you the news.
The founders of this paper, Dave Danforth, Ross Furukawa, and Carolyn Sackariason, know micro dailies work. The three have worked together before at the Aspen Daily News, a paper Danforth founded as a college dropout in 1978. In the ensuing years, Danforth, wondering whether the “micro daily” model was just an accident in a resort town or something worth pursuing, helped found other daily papers in Conway, New Hampshire and Berlin, New Hampshire (Daily Sun), and in the Bay Area communities of Palo Alto (Daily News) and San Mateo (Daily Journal). They are still there.
We couldn’t have made it the last two years without the support of our advertisers who believe the Daily Press provides an effective medium for marketing business to locals in Santa Monica, as well as visitors. And to our readers, without your interest in local issues we wouldn’t have an audience to write for.
It may take a while for the Santa Monica Daily Press to be everything you want us to be, but it will not be for lack of your help, encouragement, derision and goading. Please feel free to do any of these.
We’ve come a long way in two years. We’ll continue to build upon our credibility, commitment to the community and to the news that affects us everyday.
We thank everyone who has supported the Daily Press the past 730 days and we look forward to serving Santa Monica as its daily newspaper for years to come.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on November 13, 2003. Read the original PDF.