As a media concept struggling to be born and survive, Nordis has a long pedigree. It dates back to the early 1980s, that time when the Cordillera and the Filipino people were rising against the Marcos dictatorship. Aspiring grassroots journalist and young writers in Northern Luzon saw the need to amplify the repressed voices of the indigenous peoples communities and the marginalized sectors in the region. Thus emerged the Cordillera News and Features, which started issuing news packets and holding media workshops. By 1989, grassroots media circles gelled into the Northern Media Network that continued the issuance of a weekly news packet, now named Northern Dispatch (Nordis). The first issue came out in September 2, 1989.

On October 11, 2002, Nordis made the big leap into Northern Dispatch Weekly, a regional news paper that hit Baguio’s streets and provincial outlets every Sunday. By February 2004, its official website, www.nordis.net, began operations. Since then, this spunky weekly tabloid found its way to newsstands, libraries, offices and homes across Northern Luzon. Nordis even helped set up Radyo Sagada in 2010.

On January 2019, Nordis has had to make the unavoidable shift to purely online publishing. The last print issue of Nordis Weekly came out on December 30, 2019. But we are all proud of its straight 16-year print run with 16 volumes of 50 newspaper issues each, and some modest multimedia productions, in addition to regular news dispatches since 1989, a huge photobank, and a steady Internet presence since 2004.

Nordis remains alive and kicking today, because of its clear-sighted vision, deep commitment of its institutional pillars and editorial staff. Whatever limitations it continues to encounter can be surmounted by innovative and patient efforts in grassroots media training and networking within and outside the region, including overseas.