Cut from three to two print papers a week is part of parent company’s cost-cutting campaign
Ashland.news staff report
The Rogue Valley Times will cut print publication frequency to two times a week from three times a week, effective July 1, the paper’s owner, EO Media Group, announced Monday, as part of a company-wide cost-cutting effort that includes layoffs at a number of its 12 newspapers in Oregon and Washington.
The family owned media company said advertising revenues have dropped while operating expenses have significantly increased. All of its papers will remain in operation with local news staff, according to EO Media’s news article about the changes, but papers in five places — La Grande, Blue Mountain, Hermiston, Wallowa County and Baker City — will cease print publication altogether July 1, while maintaining their respective websites.
The East Oregonian in Pendleton — the company’s original newspaper, acquired four generations ago — will include stories from the other news sites in its soon-to-be weekly print edition, down from twice weekly.
“As a family and owners of EO Media Group, we are committed to the continuity of our publications within the communities we have served for over a century,” Steve Forrester and Kathryn Brown, majority owners of EO Media Group, said in a statement. “We have retained a firm to evaluate all options for the company, and our primary goal remains the same: to preserve and strengthen the important connection our newspapers have with the local residents of Oregon and the Long Beach (Washington) Peninsula. EO Media Group is also considering the nonprofit model of newspaper publishing. Our aim is to ensure that these publications continue to thrive and reflect the voices and stories of the communities they represent.”
Twenty-eight — 15% — of the company’s 185 employees will be laid off this month, the announcement said. Details of the job losses could not immediately be confirmed, but are expected to include staff members at the Medford paper, which launched online Feb. 6, 2023, and published its first print edition Feb. 18, 2023, just over a month after the Medford Mail Tribune shut down its website on Jan. 13, 2023. The Mail Tribune’s last print edition came out Sept. 20, 2022.
The “all options” considerations for EO Media includes sale of the company, according to The Oregonian (OregonLive.com), which reported a broker has been hired to research possible sale of the company to a buyer who will preserve the company’s commitment to covering the news in rural oregon.
A third of Oregon’s newspapers have shuttered in the past 20 years, leading to news deserts in two counties and leaving 16 counties with a single news publication covering hundreds of square miles, according to Jody Lawrence-Turner, executive director of the Fund for Oregon Rural Journalism, as reported in the EO Media story. Additionally, 68% of Oregon’s incorporated cities lack a local news source.
“Democracy is at risk and communities suffer when community-based reporting disappears,” she said.
Ashland.news and the Rogue Valley Times share some news content, but are otherwise independent operations. Email Ashland.news at [email protected].
