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Outlet profile

The Spokesman-Review

U.S. center-right historically; now a mainstream regional daily with a mixed editorial voice

Owned byOwned for over a century by the Cowles family's Cowles Company (Spokane, Washington). The family agreed in 2025 to donate it to Comma Community Journalism Lab, a Spokane 501(c)(3) nonprofit. As of mid-2026 that transfer was under way but not complete. It was delayed by several weeks after the August 2026 leave of Executive Editor Rob Curley, who co-founded Comma. I could not confirm that it has closed since.
FundingA hybrid model of print and digital subscriptions behind a paywall, local advertising, and, under Comma, tax-deductible donations. Cowles pledged a $2 million gift, matched by $2 million raised from the community. Comma reported meeting that goal in May 2026, with roughly $1 million in cash and $1 million in commitments.
On the administrationmostly neutral

Background

The paper formed in 1893-94 from the merger of the Spokane Falls Review and the Spokesman. William H. Cowles bought the Review and combined the two papers, and in 1897 he also acquired the Spokane Daily Chronicle. The Cowles family, now in its fourth generation under publisher William Stacey Cowles, kept the paper family-owned, which is rare among U.S. dailies. Its editorial page historically leaned center-right: it endorsed McCain in 2008 and Romney in 2012, but it backed Hillary Clinton in 2016. In October 2020 it endorsed Donald Trump in an editorial calling him a flawed candidate but the better choice. The endorsement drew heavy backlash from readers and staff, and critics noted it reflected the publisher's own view. Afterward the paper ended unsigned editorials and candidate endorsements. In April 2025 the Cowles family announced it would donate the paper to Comma, a nonprofit founded by Executive Editor Rob Curley, with a $2 million gift contingent on a community match. In August 2026 Curley was placed on administrative leave over personnel complaints, following a newsroom altercation over wildfire coverage, and the newsroom union later voted no confidence in him. The paper's news coverage is conventional regional reporting that includes wire and McClatchy-style national stories. Its opinion section runs syndicated columns and local commentary from different perspectives.

Sources

  1. The Spokesman-Review (Wikipedia)
  2. Cowles family plans to donate The Spokesman-Review to local nonprofit
  3. With initial goal met, The Spokesman-Review starts ownership shift from Cowles to nonprofit
  4. Spokesman-Review editor placed on leave pending investigation
  5. Trump is a 'wretched human being' but vote for him anyway, The Spokesman-Review says (Poynter)
  6. The Spokesman-Review moves to a nonprofit hybrid model (Spokane Journal of Business)
  7. Today, the Spokesman-Review's endorsements represent the views of just one man: Stacey Cowles (Inlander)

Profile compiled 2026-11-01; refreshed when ownership, funding, or the administration changes.

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