Before inviting you to join us on an always entertaining swing through Alaska news, politics, and media it’s fair we answer your most basic of questions about us. Who are we, and why are we here?
Who are we?
We are Alaskans with an interest in knowing and sharing what is really happening in our state. We’ve spent a long while waiting for the hole in the middle of Alaska news coverage to be filled. Far too often we were left wondering why someone wasn’t covering this thing the newspaper did or that thing an elected official said. So we’ve decided to get off our rears and give it a shot ourselves. The Midnight Sun has gathered a network of “in-the-know” folks who help gather our news items.
We don’t aim to compete with existing media sources, but we think we can fill the rich gap between their coverage.
On any given day you will see us covering the behind the scenes world of media and politics here in Alaska. Media is loath to cover other media, so too much of what is happening at KTUU, ADN, KTVA, KFQD, KENI, etc goes unreported.
And some in the media don’t like to cover a story until they get a press release telling them what the story is. We think we can give you the info faster, more directly, and without always needing the crib sheet.
In the “back of the house” long time Alaska all-around politico Jim Lottsfeldt will be running the biz side of things. It’s his job to make sure we make money doing this thing, so he gets to set budgets, lineup advertisers, and pay the bills.
From a content perspective, Casey Reynolds is the guy in charge. Casey has lived in Anchorage since 1989 and graduated from Bartlett High and UAA. He has worked in a variety of political and media positions in Alaska including serving as Communications Director for the Alaska Republican Party and hosting his own popular morning conservative radio show on KFQD.
Now you may notice ads on the site. Yes, we sell ads. Since our subject matter is news, politics and media it won’t shock us (and shouldn’t shock you) if our advertisers have some political interests.
We are confident that over time it our content will speak for itself and it will become clear this site harbors no partisan agenda. We will simply report the information as we get it, so long as it is accurate and interesting. But we are fond of the expression, “Sacred Cows make the best hamburger.”
This isn’t talk radio
We have time to review what we say before we say it. We are perfectly fine with being held accountable for that, so we will have public comment posting enabled on the site and our contact information will also be posted. If you think we are being overly harsh, unfair, snarky, or just playing favorites, you can tell us privately or post your concerns publicly. We may or may not agree with you, but we’ll read your thoughts with an open mind and make changes when we’re wrong.
Tomorrow we’ll start this journey with an exciting array of things for you to see, hear, and read. We invite you to join us on this journey.
Matt Acuña Buxton is a long-time political reporter who has written for the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner and The Midnight Sun political blog. He also authors the daily politics newsletter, The Alaska Memo, and can frequently be found live-tweeting public meetings on Twitter.
