The first issue of the Deseret News, inked on the small Ramage printing press that oxen pulled across the American plains and mountains, was an anomaly.
Somehow, that inaugural printing did not include any coverage of religion, faith or sermons when it appeared in June 1850. The following 175 years illustrate how the history of the Deseret News is inseparable from its treatment of religion and faith.
In fact, the second issue made the case to the pioneers settling the Salt Lake Valley that any temptation to follow the wild-eyed 49ers to the rivers of California was fool’s gold because of the godlessness of the mining camps.
The third issue included texts of Sunday sermons delivered by leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in a Salt Lake City bowery. Neither the Assembly Hall nor the Tabernacle outdoor nor any other meetinghouse existed yet, so the pioneers gathered outdoors under a makeshift roof of brush or boards that sheltered the congregation from sun and rain.
Soon, the Deseret News was publishing schedules of church services in the valley, narratives sent by missionaries across the seas and the full texts of talks by church leaders at general conference. There also were notices to bishops alerting them which days their congregation was to “work their labor tithing” on the construction of the Salt Lake Temple.
By November 1851, the paper began to publish the serialized “History of Joseph Smith,” regularly devoting a page and a half of its weekly eight-page issues to the project, a practice the Deseret News continued for most of the decade.
That dedicated faith reporting and publishing provided the Deseret News with a relevance that, to use a journalism term, gave it legs. The newspaper proved indispensable in a state that became known as a newspaper cemetery — the fatality rate for newspapers from 1850 to 1938 approached 90%, according to the book “Early Utah Journalism.”
In fact, the same year the Deseret News celebrated its 100th anniversary it was declared the “first successful religious daily newspaper in the English language” by historian Frank Luther Mott in his book “American Journalism.”
“To the people in Utah it is almost invaluable,” said President Heber C. Kimball, first counselor in the First Presidency, during an 1857 general conference talk, “for in it first appear the History of Joseph Smith, the public counsels and teachings of the First Presidency, the Twelve and others at headquarters ... and it often happens that one sermon alone is of more real value than the subscription price of many copies of the paper.”
In 1877, a decade after the newspaper became a daily, it announced the death of its founder, President Brigham Young, reporting that “This announcement will thrill the whole Territory with grief.”
In 1893, the Deseret News reported from the dedication services for the Salt Lake Temple with the headline, “The Loving Labor of 40 Eventful Years Is Finished.”
The Deseret News and the Church of Jesus Christ created a new product when the Church News debuted on April 4, 1931. The Church News is an official church publication but is operated by the Deseret News Publishing Company.
The Deseret News continues to cover faith and the international church headquartered in Salt Lake City.
For example, the second-oldest paper in the American West (the Santa Fe New Mexican started publishing seven months before the Deseret News) was in Rome for the historic first meeting in 2019 between the top leaders of the Catholic Church and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
That story about Pope Francis and President Russell M. Nelson included a history of relations between the two faiths.
Some faith coverage is more lighthearted, such as news that the TV quiz show “Jeopardy!” has included a clue about religion.
Other pieces are explanatory, such as, “Here’s how many times Latter-day Saint leaders mention Jesus Christ at general conference.”
Reporting also includes the efforts made by faithful people and religious institutions to improve the world through charitable work and humanitarian aid.
The Deseret News also covers major international and faith news that affects all believers, from rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court on religion cases to efforts to protect international religious freedom.
And the Deseret News maintains its 175-year tradition of providing coverage of Latter-day Saint general conferences, including this summary of the April 2025 conference: “President Nelson invites church members to increase their capacity for charity and virtue.”
