Five Oregon Newspapers to Cease Printing Next Month

EO Media Group, which runs the East Oregonian and 11 other Pacific Northwest newspapers, will soon stop printing five of them.

The La Grande Observer, Blue Mountain Eagle, Hermiston Herald, Wallowa County Chieftain and Baker City Herald will all cease to publish print editions on July 1, according to an announcement from the chain’s publisher, Joe Beach. Subscribers will get copies of the East Oregonian in their mailboxes instead.

The chain is also laying off 28 employees, but remaining staff at the five papers will “continue to post news online and contribute to the East Oregonian print publication,” based in Pendleton. That paper will now “serve as the regional newspaper for all of Northeastern Oregon,” according to an article in the East Oregonian announcing the changes.

All five papers, which serve rural Oregon communities, were founded over a century ago. But the rural newspaper business has struggled in recent years, as advertising revenue dropped and postal costs rose.

EO has previously attempted to stem the loss of print media across the state. Two of the now affected papers were previously acquired by EO after the bankruptcy of their former owner in 2019. And last year, EO announced it was stepping in to open a new paper in Medford after the shutdown of the Mail Tribune.

But the company ultimately succumbed to the same headwinds. The firm’s owners are evaluating “all options” for the company’s future, including switching to a nonprofit model.

“Small family-held media companies like EO Media have to adjust operations to the new realities of the industry in order to survive,” CEO Heidi Wright said.