About Us
The Palm Desert Post is an independent news outlet dedicated to serving the community of Palm Desert — and only Palm Desert — with 100% original news reporting. We are a small but mighty operation, owned and operated by your neighbors – – who saw gaps in the city's news coverage and believed the community deserved better.
Our Mission
In an era when local newspapers are disappearing and national news dominates our feeds, someone needs to be in the room when decisions about your neighborhood are being made. That's why The Palm Desert Post focuses relentlessly on municipal affairs — the Planning Commission meetings that run past 10 p.m., the budget documents that span hundreds of pages, the staff reports that determine whether your street gets repaved or your property taxes increase.
Why Municipal Coverage Matters
The stories that affect your daily life the most rarely make headlines. They happen in council chambers on Thursday afternoons. They're buried in consent calendar items. They're discussed in technical language that most people don't have time to decode.
We launched The Palm Springs Post in 2021 and The Indio Post in 2025, and we've now built The Palm Desert Post because legacy media has stopped showing up to these meetings. And when nobody's watching, residents stop knowing:
- Where new developments are planned for our neighborhoods
- How our tax dollars are actually being spent
- Which infrastructure projects are being delayed or canceled
- What deals are being negotiated behind closed doors
- Whether officials are keeping the promises they made during elections
What We Do
This isn't sexy journalism. There are no viral moments. City budget discussions don't trend on social media. But this is the journalism that matters most to homeowners, small business owners, and longtime residents who want to understand how their city actually works. We read the 200-page staff reports so you don't have to. We sit through four-hour meetings so you can spend 90 seconds understanding what happened. We track the commitments made in January and check whether they materialized by December.
Our Commitment to Access
The Palm Desert Post has no paywall. It is our belief that vital information needs to be available free of charge for the people impacted to read. We are supported entirely by readers like you who believe local accountability journalism matters.
Why This Matters
When local accountability journalism disappears, things happen in the dark. Decisions get made without scrutiny. Public input becomes an afterthought. And by the time residents realize what's changed in their community, it's already done. Palm Desert deserves better. You deserve to know what's happening in your city before it affects your property value, your commute, your water bill, or your quality of life. That's why we cover municipal affairs. That's why it matters. And that's why we'll keep showing up—one City Council meeting, one Planning Commission hearing, one budget report at a time. Because someone has to be watching.
Our use of AI
The Palm Desert Post utilizes a tool called Satchel, developed in part by our founder and launched as a startup in early 2024. Satchel uses generative AI technology to do a number of things such as helping to summarize complex documents — including staff reports and legal briefs — rewriting press releases, and suggesting headlines and edits for our stories. It can also listen to and transcribe government meetings and write basic news stories about what transpired. When we use Satchel, the final output is always fact-checked and edited by a member of The Post’s staff.
Our team
Mark Talkington, Founder and Publisher
Mark, who first moved to the Coachella Valley in 1994, is the founder and publisher of Valley Voice Media, which publishes The Palm Desert Post, The Palm Springs Post, and The Indio Post. After a long career in newspapers (including The Desert Sun) and major news websites such as ESPN.com and MSN.com, he launched the Palm Springs Post in 2021, looking to fill gaps left behind as legacy media retreated. He left Microsoft in 2024 to focus on expanding local news options in the valley and working on Satchel, his AI startup for the news business.
Kendall Balchan, Founder and Editor
Kendall was born and raised in the Coachella Valley and brings deep local knowledge and context to every story. Before joining Valley Voice Media, she spent three years as a producer and investigative reporter at NBC Palm Springs. In 2024, she was honored as one of the rising stars of local news by the Coachella Valley Journalism Foundation.
Contributors
Meet the people who write the stories at The Post at our Authors page here.
Support Local Journalism
The Palm Desert Post is made possible by readers who believe in independent, local news. Learn how you can support our work.
Contact Us
Have a tip? A question? A story idea? Get in touch.