Governor Jim Pillen has proclaimed the week of June 26 through June 30, 2023 as Community Newspaper Week in the State of Nebraska, recognizing the important role newspapers play in the communities that they serve.
Governor Pillen issued the proclamation at the Nebraska Press Association Convention that was hosted in Lincoln in April. The proclamation cites newspapers as providing a record of history for the communities they serve.
“Nebraska’s newspapers are the first draft of history for the communities they serve through news coverage of local people, issues, events, schools, churches, civic organizations, business community, personal achievements and milestones, births, deaths, weddings, etc.,” the Proclamation states. “Nebraska’s newspapers served well their role as the Fourth Estate, being the watchdog on all persons of authority, elected officials and tax-supported entities that serve all taxpayers and citizens, promoting transparency and government responsibility.”
The Proclamation also recognized newspapers as fostering local debate on issues that affect citizens, serving as, “the foundation for our democracy.” It also recognizes the contributions that newspapers make to the local and state economy.
The Nebraska Legislature also adopted a resolution to congratulate the Nebraska Press Association on its Sesquicentennial year, with the resolution being introduced by Speaker John Arch.
“The Alliance Times-Herald is honored to be recognized with its fellow newspapers throughout the State of Nebraska during Community Newspaper Week,” said Co-Publisher Shaun Friedrichsen. “It is nice to receive recognition for the hard work our small staff completes every week to record the history of the region as it happens. It is not always easy, but being a recorder of history makes the effort worth it.”
The Alliance Times-Herald began serving the region in July of 1887, launched as The Northwest Times by W.E. Hitchcock and H.B. Fetz at Nonpareil and moving southeast 10 miles that fall to become Grand Lake Times. In winter of 1888, the newspaper moved into a new building, rebranding as The Alliance Times.
After the Times building burned in a conflagration in 1892, it was sold to Harvey Ellis. On Oct. 11, 1912, Benjamin Sallows became the publisher of The Times, working to install new linotypes and trading in the original press, which was given to the Smithsonian Museum for display.
In 1922, The Alliance Times was consolidated with the Alliance Herald, originally the Hemingford Herald, becoming the Alliance Times-Herald. In 1930, the Alliance Times-Herald moved into its newly constructed building at 114 E 4th Street, where it is still housed today.
In 1949, The Alliance Times-Herald was sold to the Seaton Newspapers Inc, which published several other newspapers in the nation, including the Hastings Tribune and the Manhattan Mercury. Fred Seaton, who served as Secretary of the Interior under President Dwight D. Eisenhower, negotiated the deal. Eugene Kemper moved from Hastings to become the publisher. His son Keith Kemper succeeded his father as publisher in 1972. In 1988, Fred Kuhlman took over management of the Alliance Times-Herald after he was named publisher.
In December of 2020, Shaun and Kathryn Friedrichsen purchased the Alliance Times-Herald from the Seaton family and has set to work making improvements on the building and to grow the newspaper.
“We are proud to be Box Butte County’s only locally-owned media,” said Shaun. “Kathryn and I are proud to be a part of the community in which we live. There is a trend today that sees many newspapers being swallowed up by large corporations that have no clue what is going on in the communities they serve and instead rehash the same stories that they pull from the Associated Press to artificially inflate page counts with news that has no direct impact on the readers they serve. Kathryn and I are proud to independently own The Alliance Times-Herald so that we can keep it local. We intend to continue our hyper-focus on local news, recording the history of Box Butte County and the Panhandle as it happens.”