Ore. newspaper reduces home-delivery schedule

  • By Nigel Duara Associated Press
  • Thursday, June 20, 2013 4:29pm
  • Business

PORTLAND, Ore. — The Oregonian announced Thursday it is shifting its emphasis to digital delivery of news, reducing home delivery and cutting some staff, following in the strategy of other Advance Publication Inc. newspapers, including The Plain Dealer and The Times-Picayune.

Oregon’s largest newspaper will still be printed daily and distributed to metro areas. But home delivery will be reduced from seven days to Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, and a bonus edition on Saturday. Home delivery subscribers will be able to read a digital edition of the paper online seven days a week.

Publisher N. Christian Anderson III said in a statement published online that the company will be relaunched Oct. 1 as the Oregonian Media Group.

“We will continue to develop our digital products to better serve consumers,” Anderson said. “We seek to be at the forefront of how Oregonians get and use information. Even with the largest news organization and the largest news audience in the state, we must bring innovative ways of serving consumers to continue our growth.”

The Oregonian — whose roots date back to 1850 — is owned by Advance Publications, Inc. Similar steps have been taken at other Advance newspapers.

Advance’s strategy of shifting to digital content began in 2009, when the Ann Arbor News switched from a daily print schedule to printing only on Thursday and Sunday. In New Orleans, The Times-Picayune cut its print edition to three days a week and later supplemented that with a tabloid edition available in stores and newsstands on the days that the full newspaper isn’t printed.

Known nationally as a source of experimental and long-form narrative journalism, The Oregonian enjoyed more than a decade of sustained success, including the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service and four others, most recently in 2007 for breaking news.

Anderson said employees would begin to hear Thursday about their status with the company.

“While we believe these changes will create growth opportunities for our employees,” Anderson said, “the reality is that some employees will lose their jobs.”

Subscribers will be told about new rates in August.

The Oregonian’s shift comes as a growing number of people get their news online, turning away from traditional newspapers. The shift has cost newspaper companies print advertising dollars, the lifeblood of the industry, and digital revenue has so far failed to keep pace with the loss of print ads.

The Oregonian is not alone in the Portland newspaper market, and it was not clear how the changes announced on Thursday will affect the other papers — which include the alternative Willamette Week and The Portland Tribune, also a weekly.

In an online statement, The Oregonian said the Oregonian Media Group will “provide up-to-the-minute news and information, when and where readers want it,” and that “new and improved digital products” will be introduced.

In addition to the creation of the Oregonian Media Group, another new entity will be formed — Advance Central Services Oregon. The latter will provide “human resources, production, circulation, information systems and technology, strategic sourcing and accounting to Oregonian Media Group and other companies,” the newspaper said in an FAQ posted online.

The paper announced that Anderson will become president of Oregonian Media Group; Peter Bhatia, now vice president and editor of The Oregonian, will be vice president of content for the new company; Barbara Swanson, vice president of sales of The Oregonian, and Hallie Janssen, vice president of marketing at the paper, will have the same roles for the Oregonian Media Group.

The impending staff cuts go hand-in-hand with what’s happened at other company holdings, said Columbia Journalism Review reporter Ryan Chittum, who has written critically of the Advance strategy.

“It’s hard to call it an investment when you’re slashing your newsroom,” Chittum said. “For it to be a successful strategy, the online revenue would probably have to go up five or six times. We’re at least 20 years into the Web era, you’re not going to get that type of growth.”

———

Reach reporter Nigel Duara on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/nigelduara

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Business

Black Press Media operates Sound Publishing, the largest community news organization in Washington State with dailies and community news outlets in Alaska.
Black Press Media concludes transition of ownership

Black Press Media, which operates Sound Publishing, completed its sale Monday (March 25), following the formerly announced corporate restructuring.

Maygen Hetherington, executive director of the Historic Downtown Snohomish Association, laughs during an interview in her office on Thursday, Feb. 15, 2024, in Snohomish, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Maygen Hetherington: tireless advocate for the city of Snohomish

Historic Downtown Snohomish Association receives the Opportunity Lives Here award from Economic Alliance.

FILE - Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs poses in front of photos of the 15 people who previously held the office on Nov. 22, 2021, after he was sworn in at the Capitol in Olympia, Wash. Hobbs faces several challengers as he runs for election to the office he was appointed to last fall. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File)
Secretary of State Steve Hobbs: ‘I wanted to serve my country’

Hobbs, a former Lake Stevens senator, is the recipient of the Henry M. Jackson Award from Economic Alliance Snohomish County.

Mark Duffy poses for a photo in his office at the Mountain Pacific Bank headquarters on Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
Mark Duffy: Building a hometown bank; giving kids an opportunity

Mountain Pacific Bank’s founder is the recipient of the Fluke Award from Economic Alliance Snohomish County.

Barb Tolbert poses for a photo at Silver Scoop Ice Cream on Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
Barb Tolbert: Former mayor piloted Arlington out of economic brink

Tolbert won the Elson S. Floyd Award, honoring a leader who has “created lasting opportunities” for the underserved.

Photo provided by 
Economic Alliance
Economic Alliance presented one of the Washington Rising Stem Awards to Katie Larios, a senior at Mountlake Terrace High School.
Mountlake Terrace High School senior wins state STEM award

Katie Larios was honored at an Economic Alliance gathering: “A champion for other young women of color in STEM.”

The Westwood Rainier is one of the seven ships in the Westwood line. The ships serve ports in the Pacific Northwest and Northeast Asia. (Photo provided by Swire Shipping)
Westwood Shipping Lines, an Everett mainstay, has new name

The four green-hulled Westwood vessels will keep their names, but the ships will display the Swire Shipping flag.

A Keyport ship docked at Lake Union in Seattle in June 2018. The ship spends most of the year in Alaska harvesting Golden King crab in the Bering Sea. During the summer it ties up for maintenance and repairs at Lake Union. (Keyport LLC)
In crabbers’ turbulent moment, Edmonds seafood processor ‘saved our season’

When a processing plant in Alaska closed, Edmonds-based business Keyport stepped up to solve a “no-win situation.”

Angela Harris, Executive Director of the Port of Edmonds, stands at the port’s marina on Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2024, in Edmonds, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Leadership, love for the Port of Edmonds got exec the job

Shoring up an aging seawall is the first order of business for Angela Harris, the first woman to lead the Edmonds port.

The Cascade Warbirds fly over Naval Station Everett. (Sue Misao / The Herald file)
Bothell High School senior awarded $2,500 to keep on flying

Cascade Warbirds scholarship helps students 16-21 continue flight training and earn a private pilot’s certificate.

Rachel Gardner, the owner of Musicology Co., a new music boutique record store on Thursday, Jan. 18, 2024 in Edmonds, Washington. Musicology Co. will open in February, selling used and new vinyl, CDs and other music-related merchandise. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
New Edmonds record shop intends to be a ‘destination for every musician’

Rachel Gardner opened Musicology Co. this month, filling a record store gap in Edmonds.

MyMyToyStore.com owner Tom Harrison at his brick and mortar storefront on Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2022 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Burst pipe permanently closes downtown Everett toy store

After a pipe flooded the store, MyMyToystore in downtown Everett closed. Owner Tom Harrison is already on to his next venture.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.