| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Media |
| Headquarters | |
Key people | Steve Forrester (President & CEO), Kathryn B. Brown (Vice President) |
| Owner | Carpenter Media Group |
Number of employees | 185 (2024) |
| Website | eomediagroup |
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.
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]
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]
| 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] |
The Astorian, formerly known as The Daily Astorian, is a newspaper, published in Astoria, Oregon, United States, established in 1873, and in publication continuously since then. The paper serves the Astoria, Warrenton, Seaside area, the Long Beach Peninsula, and surrounding areas. The newspaper is published three times each week and is owned by EO Media Group.
The Capital Press is a weekly agricultural newspaper covering the West Coast of the United States, and published in Salem, Oregon. The newspaper covers farming, ranching and agriculture industries in the Pacific Northwest. The newspaper is owned by the EO Media Group.
The East Oregonian (EO) is a daily newspaper published in Pendleton, Oregon, United States and covering Umatilla and Morrow counties.
The Seaside Signal is a weekly newspaper published for the community of Seaside, Oregon, United States.
The Pamplin Media Group (PMG) is a media conglomerate owned by Carpenter Media Group and operating primarily in the Portland metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Oregon. Robert B. Pamplin, Jr. founded the company in 2001 and sold it to Carpenter in 2024. As of 2019, the company owns 25 newspapers and employs 200 people.
The Walla Walla Union-Bulletin (U-B) is a newspaper based in Walla Walla, Washington and owned by the Seattle Times Company. It publishes daily except Saturdays.
The Observer, established in 1896, is a newspaper that serves Union and Wallowa counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. Its headquarters are in La Grande, the seat of Union County. The Observer circulates Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoons. EO Media Group based in Salem, Oregon, publishes the newspaper.
The Bulletin is a newspaper in Bend, Oregon, United States. The Bulletin is owned by EO Media Group.
Eagle Newspapers was an American newspaper publisher serving the states of Oregon, Washington and Idaho. The company originated in 1948 when Elmo Smith purchased the Blue Mountain Eagle. He would later sell the paper but the company's name would be derived from that title. Smith served a partial term as Oregon Governor and upon his death the business was managed by his son Denny Smith, who rapidly grew it from three newspapers to nearly twenty in the span of two decades. By 1985, Eagle Newspapers publications accounted for nearly one-half of the weekly newspapers sold each week in Oregon. The company sold off its last paper in 2020.
The Hermiston Herald is a weekly paper published on Wednesdays in Hermiston, Oregon, United States, since 1906.
Western Communications, Inc. was an American newspaper publisher serving the states of Oregon and California from 1953 to 2019.
The Baker City Herald is a tri-weekly paper published in Baker City, Oregon, United States, since 1870. It is published on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and is owned by EO Media Group.
The Columbia County Spotlight, previously known as the Scappoose Spotlight and the South County Spotlight, is a weekly newspaper in Columbia County, Oregon, United States, established in 1961.
The Blue Mountain Eagle is a weekly newspaper published on Wednesdays in John Day, Oregon. It is a newspaper of record for Grant County.
The Chinook Observer is a weekly newspaper serving the Long Beach Peninsula of Washington state.
Journalism in the U.S. state of Oregon had its origins from the American settlers of the Oregon Country in the 1840s. This was decades after explorers like Robert Gray and Lewis and Clark first arrived in the region, several months before the first newspaper was issued in neighboring California, and several years before the United States formally asserted control of the region by establishing the Oregon Territory.
The Wallowa County Chieftain is a weekly newspaper in Enterprise, Wallowa County in the U.S. state of Oregon.
The Oregon Capital Bureau is a joint effort of two family-owned news publishers to improve news coverage of the government of the U.S. state of Oregon.
Country Media, Inc. is an American media and web design company based in Salem, Oregon, which owns 10 community newspaper properties in Oregon and one in California. The company previously owned newspapers in the West North Central states.
