The publication’s parent company says Portland Tribune will continue as an online-only newspaper. The move away from print will affect some staff members at the 24-year-old newsroom.
By Kyra Buckley, Oregon Public Broadcasting
The Portland Tribune is ending its print publication starting next week and will continue as a digital-only news service, according to the paper’s publisher.
The news comes a year after Mississippi-based Carpenter Media Group bought the Tribune and several other Oregon publications from Pamplin Media. The company added even more to its Oregon portfolio in October when it purchased EO Media Group, which includes The Bulletin in Bend and dozens of other newspapers in the Pacific Northwest.
Those purchases made Carpenter Media Group the largest media owner in Oregon.
Since taking over the publications, Carpenter has aimed to cut costs. Leaders have laid off staff at the Bulletin, Wallowa County Chieftain and Rogue Valley Times.
On Friday, at least five Portland Tribune journalists were laid off, as first reported by The Oregonian. John Carr, Carpenter’s Oregon and North Carolina publisher, confirmed to OPB that the move to online-only has affected some staff positions, but declined to comment further.
The issues facing the Portland Tribune and other news publications are nothing new; consolidations and closures have plagued local newspapers across the country. The internet has significantly affected the business of journalism, upending decades of subscription and advertising models.
An OPB analysis of federal data indicates employment in Oregon’s newspaper industry has gone down by 80% over the last 25 years. That means news coverage has slimmed, especially in rural areas. Right now, nearly half of Oregon’s news outlets are owned by out-of-state companies.
Business leader Robert Pamplin launched the Portland Tribune in 2001. For the first two decades, the print edition was available weekly or bi-weekly for free around the metro area. Soon after launching the Tribune, parent company Pamplin Media quickly grew, adding local publications in communities throughout the state.
In the years leading up to the 2024 sale of Pamplin Media to Carpenter, Willamette Week reported on significant financial challenges at the Tribune. The reporting led to a federal investigation in which Pamplin admitted to mismanaging retirement funds and violating federal pension laws.
This article first appeared on opb.org.
