Episode Details

Lauren Gustus — executive editor of The Salt Lake Tribune — joins the Chuck Toddcast ahead of Local News Day on April 9th to discuss how a legacy daily newspaper completely reimagined itself as a nonprofit and is now taking its paywall down entirely in May, betting that free access and a members-based support model is the path to long-term sustainability. Gustus walks through the Tribune's fascinating history: the newspaper once had a 50-person desk dedicated just to youth sports, was heavily supported by the Huntsman family, had a joint operating agreement with the Deseret News, and — like so many local papers — eventually became a target for private equity firms. She explains how the Tribune transitioned to its nonprofit structure, acquired the Moab Times and retained those subscribers, created unique member benefits that require a paid subscription, and is now experimenting with how to serve Utah as both a statewide and hyper-local paper. She emphasizes that local news consumers are incredibly engaged and curious, that reporters need to understand their audience before doing the work, and that there has to be a genuine public service aspect to local journalism or the whole model falls apart.

The conversation turns to the specific challenges of covering Utah — a state where the intersection of faith, business, and politics is uniquely intense. Gustus explains that the Tribune's reporters covering the LDS church are themselves LDS members, which she argues allows them to report honestly and with context rather than creating conflict of interest concerns. She notes that Utah politics is often described as divisive but more polite than elsewhere, and suggests that the state's tradition of mission service creates a more worldly electorate than outsiders assume. On the editorial page, Gustus says the Tribune still sends questionnaires to political candidates because voters need information, not instruction on how to vote, and reveals that the paper receives dozens of Trump op-ed submissions but declines to run them. She discusses the messy ongoing redistricting war in Utah, the potential opportunity created by the Nexstar/Tegna merger consolidating local TV news, and makes the case that the Tribune's model — nonprofit structure, reader engagement, statewide ambition, and free access — is fundamentally repeatable in other markets across the country, which is exactly the kind of story Local News Day is designed to amplify.

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Timeline:

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00:00 Lauren Gustus joins the Chuck ToddCast

02:30 SL Tribune is a legacy publication that’s been reimagined

03:30 The Tribune used to have a 50 person desk for youth sports

05:00 Huntsman family was a massive booster of the Tribune

05:45 Transitioning the Tribune to a nonprofit model

07:30 In May, the Tribune will be taking down their paywall

09:30 Private Equity bought newspapers in order to obtain their real estate

10:45 Tribune had a joint operating agreement with Deseret News

12:30 Local news has to constantly pivot between revenue sources

14:30 How many hybrid funding models were considered?

15:45 Acquired the Moab Times & subscribers kept paying

16:30 Creating unique member benefits that require a paid subscription

18:00 Local news consumers are incredibly engaged and curious

19:15 Reporters ne