About Us

The Yakima Herald-Republic is the largest media outlet in the Yakima Valley, providing local news and information important to the daily lives of the community it serves. In addition to the daily newspaper and website, the Yakima Herald-Republic's operations include El Sol de Yakima, a weekly Spanish language newspaper; Central Washington's largest offset commercial printing operation; an extensive commercial distribution arm; Yakima Magazine and several other highly-regarded niche publications and websites.

The Yakima Herald-Republic, which traces its roots to the late 19th century, is distributed throughout Yakima, Kittitas, Klickitat, and northwest Benton counties. It is Washington State's seventh-largest daily newspaper.

The Herald was founded in 1889 during Washington's transition from territory to state. The newspaper went through several changes in ownership during its early history. In 1899, newspaperman W.W. Robertson, who had declined offers to purchase the Tacoma Ledger and the Seattle Times, arrived in Yakima and quickly purchased the Yakima Morning Herald and its competing weekly newspaper, the Yakima Daily Republic. By 1905, he had converted both newspapers into dailies. Robertson maintained a separate staff for the Republic and the Herald and encouraged the writers and editors to develop a distinct voice for each. His son, W.H. “Ted” Robertson joined the paper in 1923, and was named publisher upon his father’s death in 1938.

The newspaper was located at its current North 4th Street location in 1951, and began offset printing in 1964. In 1968, the Herald & Republic combined to an all-day newspaper called the Yakima Herald-Republic.

Harte-Hanks bought the Yakima Herald-Republic in 1972 from the Robertson family. In 1981, the afternoon edition of the paper was discontinued. Harte-Hanks sold the paper to Garden State Newspapers, Inc., an affiliate of MediaNews Group in 1986. It is now part of The Seattle Times Company, which purchased the paper in 1992, organizing the newspaper under a separate board of directors. The Yakima Herald-Republic is the independent editorial voice of the greater Yakima Valley and uniquely serves its print and online readers through high-quality, independent journalism.

From 1996-1998, the Yakima Herald-Republic expanded the packaging center and invested approximately $4 million to renovate the main office building. In 2001, they invested $10 million to build a new press facility and purchase the KBA Comet 70 press, which has allowed the company to produce and deliver higher quality, more targeted products to their diverse audience.

With the advent and swift rise in popularity of digital publishing and social media in the 20th century, the readers of traditional print publications began to look toward the web and social media to obtain news and information. Recognizing the opportunity to deliver their products to a much broader audience in a more relevant and timely manner, the newspaper launched their online product, yakimaherald.com. Today, the company continues to find innovative ways to deliver both in-depth coverage and trending information through traditional print products and multimedia avenues.