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EO Media Group
Company typePrivate
IndustryMedia
Headquarters
Salem Edit this on Wikidata
Key people
Steve Forrester (President & CEO), Kathryn B. Brown (Vice President)
OwnerCarpenter Media Group
Number of employees
185 (2024)
Websiteeomediagroup.com

The EO Media Group, formerly known as the East Oregonian Publishing Company, is a newspaper publishing company based in the U.S. state of Oregon. It publishes 17 newspapers in the state and in southwestern Washington.

History

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The company, which has been family-owned for four generations,[1] was previously known as the East Oregonian Publishing Company.[2] It changed its name to EO Media Group in January 2013.[3]

It is owned by the Aldrich and Forrester families, members of which previously owned several newspapers (including the East Oregonian and The Daily Astorian) independently.[4][5] The connection between the East Oregonian and The Daily Astorian dates to 1909, when several East Oregonian staffers bought the Astoria Budget, which was later merged with the Astorian.[6] In 1973, the father and son (J. W. Forrester, Jr. and Michael A. Forrester) who had been publishing the East Oregonian and the Daily Astorian switched positions.[7]

The company acquired the Blue Mountain Eagle in 1979, the Chinook Observer in 1988, the Capital Press in 1990,[8] Wallowa County Chieftain in 2000,[9] the North Coast Citizen in 2007[10] and The Hermiston Herald in 2008.[11] The North Coast Citizen was sold to Country Media, Inc. in 2011.[12] A year later EO Media purchased Oregon Coast TODAY in Lincoln City.[13] The following year Country Media sold the Seaside Signal,[14] Cannon Beach Gazette and Coast River Business Journal to EO Media Group in 2013.[12][15]

In 2014, the EO Media Group partnered with the Pamplin Media Group, which publishes the Portland Tribune and 24 other weekly and monthly publications in Oregon, to form the Oregon Capital Bureau and publish the Oregon Capital Insider newsletter. The partnership came as the number of reporters assigned to state capital bureaus nationwide was on the decline. In 2018, the newly-launched Salem Reporter joined the bureau, and its publisher, Les Zaitz, was assigned to lead its three reporters. As of spring 2020, the Salem Reporter and Zaitz are no longer part of the Oregon Capital Bureau.[16][17][18][19][20][21][22]

The Aldrich-Forrester-Bedford-Brown family, which owns the EO Media Group, was covered in the 2018 book Grit and Ink: An Oregon Family's Adventures in Newspapering, 1908–2018 by William F. Willingham.[2] The book was published by the EO Media Group; but according to the author, it isn't an "authorized biography," and he had "wide open" ground rules.[2] The book was to be distributed by the Oregon State University Press.[2]

In May 2019, EO Media Group sold the Cannon Beach Gazette to Country Media.[23] In July that same year, EO Media Group acquired the Baker City Herald, The Observer (La Grande),[24] The Bulletin (Bend) and The Redmond Spokesman[25] from Western Communications.[26]

In 2020, EO Media Group closed its press in Pendleton installed in 2013 and sold it to the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, who will print all of the company's papers moving forward.[27] That same year Oregon Coast TODAY was sold to Patrick Alexander, who worked as the publication's editor and publisher.[13] In 2023, EO Media Group founded the Rogue Valley Times following the closure of the Mail Tribune.[28] That same year the company sold its Pendleton office building which it had owned since 1956.[29]

In June 2024, EO Media Group announced cutbacks to staff and print frequency. Twenty-eight employees, or 15% of total staff, were laid off and another 19 will have their hours reduced. The Bend Bulletin, East Oregonian and The Rogue Valley Times each eliminated a print day. Five newspapers suspended print entirely and went online-only: The La Grande Observer, Blue Mountain Eagle, Hermiston Herald, Wallowa County Chieftain and the Baker City Herald.[30][31] In October 2024, EO Media Group was sold to Carpenter Media Group.[32]

Awards

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The group won a top regional award for its "Fate of Our Forests" series from the Society of Professional Journalists in 2012, in a regional group including papers under 25,000 circulation from Montana to Alaska.[33] The same series, which ran in 2011, had previously won the Dolly Connelly Award for Excellence in Environmental Reporting from the Pacific Northwest Newspaper Association.[34]

Newspapers

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Newspapers owned by EO Media Group
State City Newspaper
Oregon Astoria The Astorian
Oregon Baker City Baker City Herald
Oregon John Day Blue Mountain Eagle
Oregon Bend The Bulletin (Bend)
Oregon Salem Capital Press
Washington (state) Long Beach Chinook Observer
Washington Long Beach Coast River Business Journal
Oregon Pendleton East Oregonian
Oregon Hermiston Hermiston Herald
Oregon La Grande The Observer
Oregon Seaside Seaside Signal
Oregon Astoria Our Coast Magazine
Oregon Redmond Redmond Spokesman
Oregon Enterprise Wallowa County Chieftain
Oregon Medford Rogue Valley Times[28]

References

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  1. ^ Rafter, Michelle V. (January 31, 2009). "Good News for Small Papers". Oregon Business. Retrieved November 8, 2018.
  2. ^ a b c d Bengel, Erick (October 19, 2018). "'Grit and Ink' documents a newspaper family". The East Oregonian.
  3. ^ "About Us". East Oregonian. Archived from the original on June 14, 2023. Retrieved September 9, 2023.
  4. ^ "New chief operating officer takes over at EOPC". Wallowa County Chieftain. June 2, 2005.
  5. ^ Church, Foster (February 23, 2000). "Longtime Journalist J.W. 'Bud' Forrester Jr. Dies: In a Newspaper Career that Spanned Six Decades, Forrester Combined Journalism and Public Service". The Oregonian.
  6. ^ Turnbull, George S. (1939). "Umatilla County" . History of Oregon Newspapers . Binfords & Mort.
  7. ^ "Changes at the helms". The Bulletin (Bend, Oregon). July 13, 1973, p. 4.
  8. ^ "Salem farm weekly sold". Statesman Journal. November 16, 1990. p. 48.
  9. ^ Brown, Kathryn (2024-06-23). "From My Corner: A sad chapter in the Chieftain's rich history". Wallowa County Chieftain. Retrieved 2024-06-29.
  10. ^ "Citizen ownership changes hands". Tillamook Headlight-Herald. 2007-07-26. Retrieved 2024-09-21.
  11. ^ "East Oregonian Publishing Co. to acquire Herald". East Oregonian. 2008-04-22. Retrieved 2024-09-14.
  12. ^ a b "EO Media Group Acquires Three Newspapers on Oregon Coast". EO Media Group. 2013-02-28. Archived from the original on October 3, 2023. Retrieved 2023-09-09.
  13. ^ a b "New owner seizes the TODAY". Oregon Coast TODAY. July 1, 2020. Retrieved 2022-07-25.
  14. ^ "Signal Sold". Seaside Signal. February 28, 2013. Archived from the original on March 6, 2013.
  15. ^ "EO Media Group Acquires Three Newspapers on Oregon Coast". EO Media Group LLC. Retrieved 2022-07-25.
  16. ^ Hare, Kristen (September 24, 2018). "In Oregon, three news organizations are teaming up to cover state government". Poynter. Retrieved October 30, 2018.
  17. ^ Ingram, Mathew (September 26, 2018). "Zuckerberg's death grip on Instagram". Columbia Journalism Review. Retrieved October 30, 2018.
  18. ^ "Salem Reporter joins 2 news groups to expand state reporting". Salem Reporter. September 24, 2018. Retrieved October 30, 2018.
  19. ^ "Media teams join forces to cover state government, politics". Portland Tribune. September 24, 2018. Retrieved October 30, 2018.
  20. ^ "Expanded state government reporting comes to Oregon". Blue Mountain Eagle. September 24, 2018. Retrieved October 30, 2018.
  21. ^ "EO Media Group, Pamplin launch Salem bureau for statehouse reporting". Capital Press. August 1, 2014. Retrieved 2018-10-30.
  22. ^ "Newsletter covering Oregon government debuts". Blue Mountain Eagle. February 23, 2015. Archived from the original on July 2, 2015. Retrieved October 30, 2018.
  23. ^ "Country Media re-acquires Cannon Beach Gazette". EO Media Group. 2019-03-22. Archived from the original on October 3, 2023. Retrieved 2023-09-09.
  24. ^ Cutler, Andrew (July 29, 2019). "Purchase of Observer, Herald becomes final". East Oregonian.
  25. ^ Wright, Phil (July 29, 2019). "EO Media Group buys Bend Bulletin". East Oregonian.
  26. ^ Wright, Phil (July 29, 2019). "Observer's company buys Bend Bulletin". Chinook Observer. Archived from the original on September 27, 2020. Retrieved 2022-07-25.
  27. ^ "East Oregonian to move printing operations to Walla Walla". EO Media Group LLC. 2020-11-03. Retrieved 2024-06-06.
  28. ^ a b Manning, Jeff (March 1, 2023). "Startup newspaper in Medford to change name, publisher cites legal threats". The Oregonian. Archived from the original on March 2, 2023. Retrieved March 19, 2023.
  29. ^ Haverinen, Richard (2023-12-14). "East Oregonian building to sell to nonprofit". East Oregonian. Retrieved 2024-06-06.
  30. ^ "EO Media Group announces changes to newspaper operations". East Oregonian. 2024-06-03. Retrieved 2024-06-03.
  31. ^ Buckley, Kyra (June 3, 2024). "Company that runs Bulletin, other Northwest newspapers to slash workforce and scale back print distribution". OPB. Retrieved 2024-06-03.
  32. ^ Rogoway, Mike (2024-10-23). "Oregon newspaper chain EO Media sells itself to Mississippi company". The Oregonian. Retrieved 2024-10-23.
  33. ^ "Series on forests earns regional journalism award". The Daily Astorian. May 21, 2012.
  34. ^ "Newspaper group earns environmental award for forest series". The Astorian. December 7, 2018. Retrieved September 13, 2024.
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