For more than a decade, Vallarta Daily readers have known the publication’s voice: direct, factual, and focused on the stories that matter to people who live in, visit, or care about Puerto Vallarta and Mexico. What most readers have not known is much about the person behind it.

That is by design. Ian, the founder and owner of Vallarta Daily, has spent years keeping himself out of the spotlight. He has preferred the work to speak for itself, even as the site grew from a small personal blog into one of the most widely read English-language news sources focused on Puerto Vallarta and other key communities in Mexico.

In this rare interview, Ian talks about the unexpected path that brought him to Mexico, why Puerto Vallarta became home, and how living here changed the way he sees identity, journalism, and belonging. He also speaks candidly about overdevelopment, foreign residents, public safety reporting, media independence, and the business realities of keeping local journalism alive.

It is a conversation about Mexico beyond the postcard version — not because the postcard is false, but because it is incomplete.

What first brought you to Puerto Vallarta, and what made you stay?

I moved to Puerto Vallarta when I was 32, and believe it or not, I had never been to Mexico before. I was in a relationship at the time, and my partner had been in a serious accident that left him unable to continue in the same career. Suddenly, we were a one-income household, and we had to make some practical decisions about how we were going to live.

Puerto Vallarta made sense. It had warm weather, it was more affordable, and it seemed like a place where foreigners could adjust without feeling completely lost. I came for practical reasons, but I stayed because Mexico slowly became home.

Do you remember the moment when Puerto Vallarta stopped feeling like a place you were visiting and started feeling like home?

I do not remember one exact moment, but I think it took about a year for the vacation feeling to wear off. At some point, I had the very romantic realization that I still had bills, a business to run, and savings that were not going to magically refill themselves because I lived near the beach.

Puerto Vallarta has a way of making time disappear. One minute you are adjusting to a new life, and the next minute you realize you probably should have been acting like an adult six months earlier.

What did you understand about Mexico after living here that you could not have understood as a visitor?

Mexico is a real place. That sounds simple, but I think many foreigners miss it at first.

When people first move here, it is easy to romanticize everything. I probably did that myself in the beginning. You read posts from foreigners saying Mexico saved their lives, or that Mexico is automatically safer, happier, or better than where they came from. I understand why people feel that way, especially in the early stages.

But after living here, you realize Mexico is not a fantasy or an escape hatch. It has joy, warmth, generosity, beauty, and a deep sense of life. It also has serious problems, pain, inequality, and frustration. Loving Mexico honestly means seeing both.

When you look back at the person you were when you first arrived in Mexico, what did you get wrong?

A lot. Maybe everything, but let’s not put that on a billboard.

I was resistant to certain cultural differences, and Puerto Vallarta made it very easy for me to delay learning Spanish. For a while, I probably assumed I could live in Mexico while keeping most of my old habits and expectations intact.

Eventually I realized Mexico was not going to adjust to me. I had to adjust to Mexico. Once I understood that, my life here became much better. It changed the way I viewed the world, and honestly, it changed me.

What has Mexico given you that you do not think you could have found elsewhere?

Patience. Or at least a working version of it.

Mexico can be loud, unpredictable, and chaotic. If you fight that every day, you will exhaust yourself. Living here taught me to breathe, to slow down, and to stop expecting everything to operate the way I thought it should.

It may sound strange, because Mexico can also be a stressful place to live, but I am less anxious here than I ever was in the United States. Mexico taught me that not everything needs to be controlled. That lesson took a while, and I am still in remedial classes some days.

What has Mexico cost you?

I do not think Mexico itself has cost me anything. Life choices come with tradeoffs, and moving here came with a few.

When I first moved, remote work was not as common as it is now. I owned a marketing and branding company in the United States and worked with major brands. When I told clients I was moving to Mexico, I lost many of them. Most of those relationships had never depended on in-person meetings, but the idea of working with someone outside the United States made people uncomfortable at the time.

It was also during a period when U.S. media coverage of Mexico was heavily focused on danger. Mexico was the lead story on the evening news for all the wrong reasons. So I think some clients heard “Mexico” and imagined I was setting up an office inside a telenovela cartel subplot.

Was there ever a point when you considered leaving Mexico for good?

No. Never.

How has living in Mexico for two decades changed your relationship with the United States?

I have only been back to the United States three times in the last twenty years, so my connection to it feels distant now. I am grateful to be a U.S. citizen, and I understand the privilege that comes with that passport. It gave me options that many people do not have.

At the same time, Mexico feels like the more natural fit for me. I often say I was born in the wrong country. I do not mean that as criticism of the United States. It is just that Mexico feels like where I was supposed to land.

What part of your personal story do readers misunderstand or never see?

Most readers do not know much about my personal story because I have made a deliberate choice to keep myself out of the spotlight.

There are media owners who like to become part of the brand. That is not my style. I have opinions, a personal history, and plenty of thoughts, but I work hard to keep those things out of Vallarta Daily. The story should be the story. I should not be the story.

Only close friends know I own PVDN. I do not walk around town introducing myself that way, and I certainly do not use it to get free meals or special treatment. In a small community, anonymity is underrated. Also, it makes dinner reservations much less complicated.

If someone described you only as an “expat media owner,” what would they be missing?

They would be missing quite a bit, starting with the word “expat.” I know the term is widely used, and I use it on PVDN because many foreign residents identify with it. But it does not really describe me.

To me, an expat is usually someone living outside their home country temporarily, often with some plan to return. That was never my story. I sold everything I owned 20 years ago and moved to Mexico with a suitcase and a laptop. I did not keep one foot in the United States. I moved here permanently.

I see myself more as a migrant than an expat. Even when I die, my instructions are not to return my body to the United States. I made my life here.

I also do not really think of myself as a “media owner.” Vallarta Daily started as a small blog where I thought I might publish one or two stories a week about Mexico. It grew into something much larger, but at heart, it is still something I love doing every day. It informs other people, and it keeps teaching me something new.

Why did you start Vallarta Daily?

It started as a hobby blog. I have always been interested in news and information. I like knowing what is going on around me, sometimes probably too much.

When I moved to Puerto Vallarta, I struggled to find a serious English-language news source. There were plenty of tourism pieces and cheerful updates, but not much that felt like actual local news. I assumed there had to be other English speakers who wanted that, too. It turns out there were.

What was missing from English-language news coverage in Puerto Vallarta when you launched the site?

The news was missing.

A lot of English-language coverage focused on tourism, events, restaurants, and positive stories. There is nothing wrong with those topics, but if you call yourself a news publication, readers deserve the whole picture.

I love Puerto Vallarta and Mexico, but love is not the same as pretending everything is perfect. Local English-language news needed more balance, more substance, and more willingness to cover uncomfortable stories when they mattered.

What was the first story that made you realize the site could matter?

May 1, 2015, was a turning point. After cartel-related attacks in Jalisco, Puerto Vallarta was affected, and PVDN reported it in English at a time when very few local English-language outlets were willing to touch the story.

I remember seeing efforts online to encourage people not to post about what was happening and instead flood the internet with beach photos and happy vacation images. I understood the instinct, but I also thought it showed exactly why serious English-language news was needed.

That was when many readers realized PVDN was willing to report the uncomfortable parts of local life, not just the postcard version. The site grew quickly after that. It was a defining moment.

What has been the hardest part of running an independent local news site?

Time. There is never enough of it.

I struggle to publish everything I want to publish and still live like a functioning human being. Some days, the challenge is not the news. It is remembering to eat something that did not come from a desk drawer.

I have often put PVDN ahead of my own well-being. That is not something I recommend, but it is the honest answer. The hardest part is trying to serve readers while not completely disappearing into the work.

How do you define the mission of Vallarta Daily today?

I do not know that I think of it as a grand mission. I want to inform people with the most accurate information available and present it without a personal agenda.

I try to keep the tone neutral and avoid leading readers toward what they should think. That may sound boring, but it matters. People deserve facts and context. They can decide for themselves how to feel about the information.

You have expanded beyond Puerto Vallarta into broader Mexico destination-city coverage. How do you decide what still belongs under the Vallarta Daily name?

I have considered separating the national and destination-city coverage into another brand, but it never quite made sense. Vallarta Daily has become more than a local blog. It is now a broader English-language newsroom covering Puerto Vallarta along with places like Los Cabos, Cancún, Mérida, Playa del Carmen, San Miguel de Allende, and Lake Chapala.

The name still reflects where it started and where its heart is. But readers in Puerto Vallarta are also affected by what happens across Mexico. Covering the bigger picture makes the local coverage stronger.

Why keep “Vallarta” in the name when the coverage has grown beyond Vallarta?

Because Vallarta is still the center of the brand. If I can publish only one story and I have to choose between a Vallarta story and another story, the Vallarta story comes first.

That said, I think Vallarta readers are perfectly capable of caring about what happens elsewhere in Mexico. The country is connected. Tourism, safety, policy, economy, weather, infrastructure — these issues do not stop at city limits.

I have traveled to every state in Mexico and lived in several of them, but Puerto Vallarta is always the place I return to. It is still home base, even when the coverage map gets bigger.

What does “independent” mean to you in practical terms?

For me, independence means keeping enough distance to make honest decisions.

I do not introduce myself around town as the owner of PVDN. Most people do not know. That protects the work. If the owner of my favorite restaurant knew who I was and there was a public health issue there, suddenly a news decision could feel personal. I do not want that conflict.

Puerto Vallarta is a small community. You cannot be fully independent and also try to be everyone’s favorite guy at the party. I would rather fly under the radar and keep the reporting clean.

What is the line between serving foreign readers and becoming an expat echo chamber?

Most PVDN readers are in the United States and Canada. Many are visitors, snowbirds, future residents, or people with a connection to Mexico. Not all of them are full-time foreign residents.

The line is context. I try to explain why a story matters to foreign readers without making the story only about them. It is easy for people to dismiss a local or national issue as unrelated to their life, but we are all connected in ways we do not always see immediately.

The goal is not to create an echo chamber. It is to help readers understand the place they visit, live in, or care about with more depth.

How do you avoid turning Mexico into content for foreigners?

By trying not to make Mexico a backdrop for self-discovery.

I am not interested in the kind of content where someone moves to Mexico, discovers markets, tacos, sunsets, and “a simpler life,” and then presents it as if no one had noticed Mexico before they arrived with a ring light.

Mexico is not a prop. It is a country with its own people, history, complexity, humor, contradictions, and problems. My job is to report on Mexico, not use Mexico as a mirror for my personal journey.

How do you decide when a crime story is newsworthy versus when it risks feeding fear or stereotypes?

Crime reporting should be handled carefully, but I do believe public safety stories matter.

In places like Puerto Vallarta, there has sometimes been a reluctance in English-language media to report crime because people worry it will scare visitors or damage the destination. The problem is that if people believe they are in a crime-free bubble, they may make poor decisions and become more vulnerable.

My job is not to make people afraid. It is to give them accurate information. A series of business robberies, for example, is public safety information. Readers can respond calmly and rationally. I cannot control every reaction, but I can control whether the reporting is factual, proportional, and responsible.

Do you think English-language media in Mexico sometimes exaggerates danger for clicks?

Some coverage does, especially when it comes from outside Mexico and lacks context. If you only parachute into a story when something violent happens, Mexico can look like nothing but crisis.

Local context matters. Mexico has serious security problems, but it is also a country where millions of people live ordinary, full, complicated lives every day. Good reporting should hold both truths at the same time.

Do you think it sometimes soft-pedals serious problems because tourism money is involved?

Yes, that can happen. I cannot speak for every publication, but tourism economies create pressure. People worry that reporting bad news will hurt business.

I understand that concern, but PVDN is not a tourism promotion office. I see Puerto Vallarta as a home, not just a destination. Homes deserve honest reporting, including the parts that do not fit neatly into a brochure.

How do you balance public safety reporting with the risk of damaging a destination’s image?

I do not see myself as the gatekeeper of Puerto Vallarta’s image. The government has tourism departments, marketing teams, and PR professionals for that.

My responsibility is different. Readers expect news, not image management. That means reporting good news, bad news, and complicated news with as much accuracy and fairness as possible.

How do you handle corrections?

Correction requests are rare, but I take them seriously. Sometimes people object to a story because they saw something different on social media or simply do not like what was reported. That does not automatically mean the story is wrong.

But mistakes can happen. When there is clear evidence that something was inaccurate, we correct it and add a note explaining what changed and why. Transparency matters. If you expect readers to trust you, you cannot quietly sweep corrections under the rug.

What is the worst mistake a foreign journalist can make while covering Mexico?

Relying mostly on foreign voices.

If you are covering Mexico, your sources should be rooted in Mexico. At PVDN, I am the only foreigner involved. The people I rely on for sourcing, research, and local context are Mexican. On the rare occasions I have accepted writing from foreigners, I look for people with serious long-term experience living full-time in Mexico.

You cannot cover a country responsibly if your understanding of it comes mainly from people who are also trying to figure it out from the outside.

What is the worst mistake foreign readers make when consuming news about Mexico?

Assuming one story explains the whole country.

Mexico is enormous and complicated. A security story in one state does not define daily life everywhere else. A positive tourism story does not erase serious national problems. Readers sometimes want Mexico to fit into one emotional category: safe, dangerous, wonderful, broken, cheap, corrupt, magical. It is never that simple.

The best thing readers can do is stay curious and resist easy conclusions.

Do you think there is such a thing as “responsible expat journalism”?

I think there is responsible journalism, period.

The subject or audience may change, but the standards should not. Be accurate. Be fair. Use good sources. Provide context. Correct mistakes. Do not manipulate readers. That applies whether you are covering city hall, tourism, crime, or life abroad.

How do you report on corruption without sounding cynical or simplistic?

By sticking to facts and avoiding the temptation to turn every story into a lecture.

Corruption is a serious issue, but it is also easy to write about it in a way that sounds lazy or dismissive. I try to present what is known, what is alleged, who is involved, and why it matters. Then I let readers think for themselves.

A lot of journalism tries to guide readers to a conclusion. I prefer to give them enough information to reach their own.

How do you report on cartel violence without reducing Mexico to violence?

By making sure that cartel violence is not the only thing we cover.

Violence is part of Mexico’s reality, and ignoring it would be irresponsible. But Mexico is not only about violence. PVDN covers public safety, politics, tourism, culture, infrastructure, weather, business, community issues, and daily life.

If a publication only covers violence, it reduces the country. If a publication refuses to cover violence, it distorts the country. The responsibility is to cover it proportionately and in context.

What kinds of stories do you refuse to publish?

I do not refuse factual, newsworthy stories because they are uncomfortable. The bigger limitation is time.

PVDN is a very small operation, and I think people sometimes imagine there is a large newsroom behind it. The reality is much less glamorous. I work seven days a week, often long hours, and even on vacation, I bring a laptop. My travel planning usually begins with, “How reliable is the internet?” which is how you know you have built either a news site or a very strange prison.

If a story does not get published, it is usually not because I rejected it. It is because there are only so many hours in the day.

What is one issue in Puerto Vallarta or Mexico that you think foreign residents are not honest about?

Violence and security.

Many foreign residents genuinely feel safer in Mexico than they did in the United States or Canada, and I do not dismiss their personal experience. Feeling safe matters. But feeling safe is not the same as being fully informed.

Some foreigners do not speak Spanish, do not follow local news, and spend most of their media time focused on problems back home. That can create a distorted picture. Mexico has a serious violence problem, even if many foreigners are not directly affected by it in their daily lives.

I love Mexico. This is my home. Acknowledging the country’s problems is not the same as attacking it. In fact, I think honest love requires telling the truth.

What is one issue Mexican officials are not honest about?

The influence of organized crime in local and national politics.

That is not an easy subject, and it cannot be reduced to one simple explanation. But any honest conversation about Mexico’s public life has to acknowledge that organized crime is not only a security issue. It also affects governance, elections, public trust, and local decision-making.

You lived in Puerto Vallarta for many years and saw it change. When did you first feel the city was losing something important?

For me, it was around the time the current Malecón and the Los Muertos Pier were built. Those projects were signs that Puerto Vallarta was becoming a different kind of place.

Change is not automatically bad. Cities evolve. But that period felt like the beginning of a shift away from the Puerto Vallarta I first knew.

What did overdevelopment do to the character of Puerto Vallarta?

Puerto Vallarta feels less Mexican than it did 20 years ago.

That does not mean it has lost its soul completely, but the balance has changed. More and more, parts of the city feel designed for outside buyers, short-term visitors, and foreign expectations. When that happens, the local character can get pushed into the background.

Who benefits most from Puerto Vallarta’s growth?

People with access to real estate, capital, and development opportunities have benefited the most. That includes some foreign real estate agents, developers, investors, and property owners.

Growth creates money, but the question is always where that money goes and who gets left managing the consequences.

Who pays the highest price for that growth?

Local Mexican residents often pay the highest price.

They deal with rising rents, changing neighborhoods, traffic, pressure on services, and the feeling that parts of their own city are becoming less accessible to them. Tourism and development can create jobs, but that does not mean the benefits are evenly shared.

Do foreigners moving to Mexico understand their role in rising housing costs?

Many do understand it. The harder question is whether they are willing to sit with the discomfort of it.

It is not about blaming every foreigner for every housing problem. The issue is bigger than one person. But when people arrive with stronger currencies and higher purchasing power, it affects the local market. That is not an opinion. That is how markets work.

Is it possible for foreign retirees to move to Mexico without contributing to gentrification?

It is possible to reduce the impact, but it requires intention.

Learn Spanish. Build relationships beyond foreign circles. Live in a way that respects local norms rather than trying to recreate life back home on the cheap. Be aware of where you live, how you spend, and whether your presence is helping transform a neighborhood into something locals can no longer afford.

If someone lives in Mexico but spends most of their time speaking English, socializes only with foreigners, and expects the community to adapt to them, then yes, they are probably contributing to the problem.

Are there parts of the “retire in Mexico” dream that you now find troubling?

Yes. What troubles me most is when Mexico is treated only as a financial solution.

I understand financial pressure. I moved to Mexico partly for financial reasons, so I do not judge people for needing a more affordable life. But there is a difference between moving to Mexico because it offers a better quality of life and moving here with no real interest in the country, its people, its language, or its culture.

Mexico is affordable for many foreigners because wages here are low. That reality should create humility, not entitlement. If the only goal is to stretch dollars while staying inside a foreign bubble, that is where the dream starts to feel uncomfortable.

What would you say to someone who wants to move to Mexico only because it is cheaper?

I would say I understand the motivation, because financial reality was part of my own move. There is no shame in needing a more affordable life.

But once you arrive, make a real choice to live in Mexico, not just near Mexico. Learn Spanish. Build local relationships. Understand the culture. Be respectful of the fact that your affordability may be tied to someone else’s economic hardship.

Come for the lower cost if that is your reality. Stay because you are willing to become part of the place. Otherwise, you are not really moving to Mexico. You are just relocating your old life to cheaper weather.

As a gay man living in Mexico, how has your identity shaped the way you see community, safety, and belonging here?

I am out, but I have also had a lot of privilege in that being gay was never a major struggle in my life. My parents made it clear when I was young that whoever I loved, they cared most that I was happy. That gave me a foundation many people did not have.

Because of that, being gay is part of who I am, but it has never felt like the central story of my life. I have not lost jobs, friendships, or family because of my sexuality. I have not experienced the kind of discrimination or violence that many LGBTQ+ people have faced.

So I am careful not to present my experience as universal. For me, being gay mostly affects who I love. It does not define every part of how I move through Mexico or through my work.

Has Mexico given you more freedom, less freedom, or a different kind of freedom?

A different kind of freedom.

On paper, many Mexican laws are similar to those in the United States. The difference is often in enforcement, culture, pace, and expectations. Life here feels less rigid in some ways and more complicated in others.

So I do not know that I have more freedom. It just feels different. Mexico gives you space, but it also asks you to learn how to live with uncertainty.

Do you feel like an outsider, an insider, or something in between?

I feel Mexican in my daily life, even though I know I am not Mexican by birth.

Sometimes I look at my U.S. passport and it feels almost surprising. After 20 years, my life, routines, friendships, instincts, and sense of home are in Mexico. I know there will always be things I cannot claim, but emotionally, this is where I belong.

Have you ever felt fully accepted in Mexico?

Yes, but I think that is because I accepted Mexico first.

I did not arrive expecting Mexico to become more like the place I left. Once I stopped comparing everything and started meeting Mexico on its own terms, I felt much more at home.

Have you ever felt fully accepted among foreign residents in Mexico?

That is harder to answer because most of my social circle is Mexican. It is not that I dislike foreign residents. I just made a choice early on that if I was going to live in Mexico, I wanted to actually live in Mexico.

Financial reasons may have brought me here, but I did not want my life to be defined by the fact that I moved to a lower-cost country without changing anything about myself. Choosing to integrate made my experience much richer.

How has being gay influenced the stories you notice or the questions you ask?

Not much, honestly.

Being gay is about who I love. My work is not about me. I try not to make my personal identity the lens for every story. That does not mean identity is irrelevant in journalism, but for my day-to-day work, the question is usually much simpler: What happened, why does it matter, and what does the reader need to know?

Do you think English-language media in Mexico gives enough attention to LGBTQ+ communities and rights?

In places like Puerto Vallarta, LGBTQ+ life gets a lot of attention, and for good reason. Puerto Vallarta has become one of the most visible LGBTQ+ destinations in Mexico.

At times, the coverage can lean heavily into tourism and nightlife, while broader issues like rights, safety, housing, healthcare, and local LGBTQ+ community life deserve more depth. Visibility is good, but depth matters too.

Is there a part of your life in Mexico that you protect from public view?

I do not have secrets in any dramatic sense. I just have a private life, and I like keeping it private.

I do not use social media, and I have never felt the need to narrate my life for strangers. I am open if someone asks me a direct question, but I do not think my personal life needs to be part of the Vallarta Daily brand.

This is the first interview I have done after owning PVDN for 15 years. That probably says something. Either I am private, or I am terrible at personal branding. Possibly both.

How do you separate Ian the journalist from Ian the person who has opinions, frustrations, and personal history?

First, I am careful with the word journalist. I have a degree in communications, and I tend to think of myself more as a communicator. I respect journalism as a profession, and I do not use the label casually.

That said, the separation comes from discipline. I have opinions. Everyone does. But when I am writing or editing news, the job is to communicate facts clearly. I use the backspace key a lot. Sometimes I catch myself leading the reader or adding a little too much of myself, and I take it out.

The reader did not come to PVDN for my mood. They came for the news.

What do you wish people understood about the emotional side of building a life abroad?

That everyone’s experience is different.

For me, moving to Mexico felt like relief. I had lived in several places in the United States and never really felt at home. I dealt with anxiety and panic attacks for years. Sometimes I could barely leave the house.

When we drove into Mexico, something shifted almost immediately. I felt lighter. In 20 years, I have not experienced anxiety in the same way. That does not mean Mexico magically fixes everyone. It means Mexico was right for me.

Other people have the opposite experience. They love Mexico on vacation, buy a home, retire here, and then struggle when vacation becomes daily life. Culture shock is real. Loneliness is real. The fantasy can wear off quickly.

Moving abroad is not just a change of address. It can change your entire emotional landscape.

What is the business model for independent English-language news in Mexico, and is it sustainable?

I may be the wrong person to ask about business models because I do not wake up thinking like a media executive. I wake up thinking about what needs to be published.

I do not obsess over traffic charts or which stories perform best. I publish what I think is important or interesting and hope readers value it.

That said, I do think independent news can be sustainable, especially because many people are tired of corporate media and political spin. There is still an audience for straightforward reporting: facts, context, and enough trust to let readers form their own conclusions.

What do readers expect for free that costs real money to produce?

Almost everything.

There was some pushback when PVDN moved to a subscription model. I understand it. People are used to finding information online for free, especially through social media. But running a large website costs money, and producing reliable information takes time.

I closed a successful marketing business because I believed in PVDN. I make less money doing this, but I am much more fulfilled. Still, fulfillment does not pay hosting bills. I checked.

Readers often believe news should be free, but someone always pays for it. If readers do not, then advertisers, sponsors, political interests, or platforms usually do. That changes the incentives.

How do you persuade readers to financially support journalism when so much information online appears free?

I do not really persuade people. I do not spend money on advertising or run big campaigns telling people why they should subscribe.

I publish the work. If readers find value in it, some of them subscribe. I think people persuade themselves when they realize how much unreliable information is floating around, especially on social media.

The best argument for supporting PVDN is the work itself. No shouting. No agenda. Just factual news and context.

What has been harder: building readership or building revenue?

Revenue, without question.

PVDN reaches a large audience, averaging around 1 million visitors a month, but advertising is complicated. The coverage area is local and regional, and many local businesses cannot afford advertising rates that match that level of traffic. Others are hesitant because we cover crime and cartel-related news, and they depend on a clean tourism image.

That is why subscriptions became necessary. The site grew to the point where it needed more time and resources. I had to choose between closing PVDN or making it sustainable enough to keep going.

I am not getting rich from it. I live more simply than many foreigners in Mexico. But I love the work, and I have what I need. Food in the refrigerator and a roof over my head is not a bad business plan, even if Wall Street probably would not invest in it.

What role does search traffic play in the survival of Vallarta Daily?

A big one. Because I do not advertise PVDN, search traffic is critical. Most non-subscriber traffic comes through Google.

That makes visibility important, but it also makes small publishers vulnerable. When one platform controls a large share of discovery, a change in its system can affect your entire operation.

What happens when Google changes its rules and independent publishers lose visibility overnight?

It can be brutal.

When Google changed its algorithm last year, many sites were hit hard, and PVDN was not immune. For about six months, traffic fell sharply, and new subscriptions fell with it.

That kind of change is difficult because it has nothing to do with whether your journalism is valuable to readers. You can do the same work, serve the same audience, and suddenly become less visible because a platform changed how it ranks information.

Are small publishers being pushed out by platforms they depend on?

Yes, and I think AI has made that risk even bigger.

When someone searches online now, they may get an AI-generated answer before they ever see the original sources. That information has to come from somewhere, often from publishers who invested time and money to report or explain it.

If readers do not click through to the original site, publishers lose traffic and revenue. Meanwhile, the platform benefits from the information. That is a major problem for independent media.

I think governments will eventually have to address this. It is not healthy for society when a handful of companies control how people access information while also using publishers’ work to keep users on their own platforms.

What do you think readers misunderstand about the economics of local journalism?

I am not sure most readers think about it at all, and honestly, I understand that. People have their own lives to worry about.

But I do think some readers assume PVDN is much larger than it is because the site looks professional and has been around for 15 years. I get emails asking for the HR department, which always makes me laugh. I would love to meet that department. Maybe it can approve my vacation.

The reality is that PVDN makes enough to cover operating costs and provide me with a modest life. It is not backed by deep pockets. It exists because I keep showing up every day.

How do you decide between what readers click and what readers need to know?

I focus on what readers need to know.

I do not want PVDN to become clickbait, and I do not publish controversial opinions just to drive traffic. You will not find a section where I turn myself into the main character. My ego is not that ambitious.

Readers come for news. I am not the news.

What does success look like for Vallarta Daily beyond traffic numbers?

Success is when someone emails and says they appreciate the work.

Traffic numbers can tell you how many people visited a page. They cannot tell you whether the work helped someone feel informed, prepared, or connected to their community. Those messages from readers matter more to me than a chart.

What do you want Vallarta Daily to become in the next five years?

Over the last year, I have focused more seriously on making PVDN nationally relevant while keeping its local foundation. In the next five years, I would like it to become the leading English-language news source not only in Puerto Vallarta, but also in the other communities we cover: Los Cabos, San Miguel de Allende, Cancún, Mérida, Playa del Carmen, and Lake Chapala.

Puerto Vallarta will always be the core, but the need for serious English-language news exists in many places across Mexico.

Do you see Vallarta Daily as a local news site, a Mexico news brand, or something else entirely?

At heart, it is local news. Even as the coverage expands, that is still the foundation.

You could call it a Mexico news brand now, but I think of it as local news in multiple communities, connected by a broader national context. Vallarta comes first, but Mexico is the larger story.

What kind of newsroom would you build if money were not an obstacle?

Honestly, I do not think I would change as much as people might expect. I like keeping things small and personal.

Of course, it would be nice to take a vacation without packing a laptop like it is a vital organ. But I also know my personality. I like having my hands on the work. I trust small, focused operations more than big, complicated ones.

If money were no object, I might add help carefully. But I would not want to lose what makes PVDN feel personal, independent, and close to the reader.