The Skanner, One of Portland’s Oldest Newspapers Serving the African-American Community, Retires Print Edition

“The media landscape has changed over the last four decades and so must The Skanner.”

The Skanner newspaper founders Bernie and Bobbie Dore Foster (The Skanner)
By Elise Herron

The Skanner today announced that it will retire its print edition after 45 years and become an online-only publication.

The newspaper, which was founded in 1975, wrote that the change is due to a decline in revenue in the newspaper sector, which has forced many publications to have to adapt.

"The media landscape has changed over the last four decades and so must The Skanner," Skanner reporter Helen Silvis wrote. "The Skanner will not close, but we will adapt."

Going forward, The Skanner will print only special editions but the online publication will continue.

Last month, the Portland Tribune also announced it was scaling down from two print editions per week down to one per week. And in 2018, the Portland Mercury made the decision to cut down print production from every week to every other week. 

The Skanner plans to continue organizing its Skanner Foundation Scholarship Breakfast and Martin Luther King Jr Scholarship Breakfast and, Silvis wrote, "[hopes] that sponsors and the community will remain staunch supporters of this effort."

Read more about the newspaper's history and where it's headed here.

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