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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.
According to historian Johan B. Horner, early pioneers craved newspapers from the east coast, which delivered news of loved ones back home as well as national news, but which arrived as infrequently as twice a year. Horner stated that in the absence of printed material, the community-based art of song drove early Oregon knowledge sharing and patriotism, and drove an intense interest in local newspapers when they did begin to emerge.[1]
The first printing press in the region, a small Ramage press gifted by a native church in the Sandwich Islands, came to the Waiilatpu mission in Walla Walla in 1839.[5] That press was never used to print newspapers; but in 1844, a group formed in Oregon City with the purpose of establishing a newspaper. The Oregon Printing Association formally declared that the press they acquired was never to be used as a vehicle for partisan politics.[6][7] (Historian Frances Fuller Victor speculated that the non-partisan rule reflected misgivings about missionary influence among early American Oregon pioneers.[8]) The group secured a press from New York, and produced the first newspaper in the western United States, the Oregon Spectator, in 1846. After going through three editors in the first few months, the Spectator hired George Law Curry as editor. Curry remained in the post until 1848, when he resigned due to a dispute with the Association over his wish to adopt a "firm and consistent American tone."[6] The Oregon Territory was formally established in August 1848, with Oregon City—the home of the Spectator—serving as its seat of government for the first three years.[9] The Spectator continued, with changes in ownership, focus, and political focus (becoming a Whig mouthpiece in its later years) until 1855.[6]
In 1845, the U.S. Postal Service made the first effort to establish mail communication with Oregon.[10]
PIONEER JOURNALISTS OF OREGON. 1. Col. W. G. T'Vault, 1843, first editor of the "Spectator," issued at Oregon City, February 5, 1846, the first paper west of the Missouri River. 2. Thomas J. Dryer, 1850, founder of the "Oregonian," first issue December 6, 1850, on the corner of Front and Morrison streets. 3. Asahel Bush, 1851, founder of the "Statesman," Salem, first issue March 21, 1851. 4. Thornton T. McElroy, 1851, printer on the "Spectator," Oregon City, and founder of the "Columbian," first newspaper north of the Columbia River, issued at Olympia, September 1, 1852. 5. Delazon Smith, 1852, founder of the "Democrat," Albany, 1853: one of the first United States senators from Oregon.
Other early Oregon papers included the short-lived Free Press, founded by Curry upon his departure from the Spectator, with type purchased from Catholic missionaries and an improvised press; the Western Star, later renamed the Oregon Weekly Times, founded in Milwaukie in 1850 and moving to Portland in 1851.[6] The Weekly Oregonian was the fifth paper in Oregon, and the oldest one still extant. It launched in Portland on December 4, 1850. Its press was purchased in 1852 and used to found the Columbian, the first paper north of the Columbia River.[6] The Statesman was founded in Salem in 1851, in response to the Whig-oriented Oregonian.[11]
In the 1850s and '60s, journalism in Oregon was characterized by bitter attacks among newspaper publishers and editors on their editorial pages. The primary participants in this dynamic, known as the "Oregon Style" of journalism, were Democrat Asahel Bush of the Salem Statesman, Whig/Republican Thomas Jefferson Dryer of the Portland Oregonian, and Whig William Lysander Adams of the Oregon Argus. By the 1870s a libel law passed in the state, as well as a state press association with a code of ethics, reduced the acrimony of these exchanges.[12][13]
The first daily paper was Portland's Daily News, begun by S. A. English and W. B. Taylor, April 18, 1859.[6][14] The "first real Republican paper" on the west coast was the Oregon City Argus, founded in 1855 and merged into the Statesman in 1863.[6] A number of pro-Southern newspapers in Oregon were suppressed by the federal government in 1862. In the 1860s, telegraph service came to Oregon, initially connecting Portland and other Willamette Valley cities to northern California.[10]
Even as late as 1872, according to Oregon news historian George S. Turnbull, there was a shortage of local news published in what he terms the "pioneer papers," as compared with his present day (1939). Turnbull identified three reasons: the relative scarcity of important happenings as compared with today; the fact that the demand was still much heavier for the news from "outside" than for the home news; the earlier reporters had not yet built up the technique of effective reporting.[15] Around the turn of the century, the average lifespan of a newspaper was less than a decade.[16]
In the teens, Oregon (along with Washington) banned liquor advertising, prompting at least some out-of-state newspapers to cancel subscriptions in the state.[17] During the Great Depression, when the cost of newsprint was high, the number of newspapers in the state dropped from 278 (1930) to 125 (1940).[4]
The number of newspapers in Oregon as a percentage of the population spiked around 1900. Turnbull, who compiled the data, attributed this to "a decade of opening up the country, establishing towns and cities, a decade of land and timber notices," and observed that, from 1900 up to the date of his writing (1939), a shrinking number of newspapers provided greater circulation numbers overall.
The Oregon Journal was established in 1902, and rivaled the Oregonian in statewide coverage throughout much of its existence. It took positions on a number of policy issues, and was generally considered a Democratic newspaper. The Journal acquired radio stations in the 1930s and '40s, and in 1947 it became the first paper in the country to purchase its own news helicopter. The Journal's circulation peaked the next year.
The Oregonian vacated the Oregonian Building, its home of more than 50 years, in 1948, but put itself in financial distress in the construction of its new building; this resulted in the sale of the newspaper to S. I. Newhouse in 1950.[18] Newhouse subsequently bought the Oregon Journal in 1961. The Journal continued as a separate publication (though its Sunday edition ceased) until 1982, when Newhouse merged it with the Oregonian.[19] During a strike which lasted from 1959 to 1964, the Portland Reporter emerged as an alternative to the Oregonian and the Journal. It ceased publication upon the conclusion of the strike.[20][21]
Regional chain newspapers
Several locally-owned companies operate groups of newspapers in Oregon. These include:
In the 1992 United States Senate election in Oregon, the Oregonian was faulted for missing a crucial story, which was then broken by on the east coast by the Washington Post. This resulted in bumper stickers that read, "If it matters to Oregonians, it's in the Washington Post," a twist on the Oregonian's slogan "If it matters to Oregonians, it's in The Oregonian.[22]
Pulitzer: The Oregonian (2001) INS (among five Pulitzers under Rowe[23]
L. Samuel launched The West Shore, a monthly magazine, in 1875. It was the state's first illustrated periodical, featuring wood cuts and zinc etchings. Samuel described it as being "devoted to Literature, Science, Art, and the Resources of the Pacific Northwest." He promoted the magazine all over the United States and in Europe, and claimed the largest circulation of any Oregon publication. The magazine peaked in 1889, weekly, when it began publishing weekly, with color and tint-block illustrations. Samuel was known for turning down advertising deemed problematic, prior to the emergence of more formal journalism ethics and standards.[25]
Public broadcasting began in 1923, out of the Oregon State University. The name Oregon Public Broadcasting was first adopted in 1971. Until 1981, it was part of the Oregon higher education system.
After the Oregon Printing Association (discussed in the newspapers section), the next significant meeting of Oregon newspaper editors and publishers was in October 1878. Following an episode in which editorial attacks between newspapers resulted in one Portland newspaper editor being fatally shot by another, a number of editors organized with the purpose of promoting an effective libel law.[26] They achieved that goal, but with some ambivalence from the Portland Bee, whose assistant editor had been sentenced to 15 years for the slaying. The group is not known to have reconvened.[27]
The Washington State Press Association hosted an annual conference beginning in the mid-1880s, which attracted Oregon journalists.[28]
The Oregon Press Association, now known as the Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association (ONPA), was founded in 1887.[27] Eighteen journalists, primarily from the Willamette Valley, convened at Lincoln City at the urging of editors and publishers of the Roseburg Review, the Yaquina Post, and the Benton Leader; 18 more, including journalists from Eastern Oregon, enrolled by letter.[29] Until 1971, the organization's offices were at the University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication (SOJC); after that, the offices were moved to Portland and then to Lake Oswego, where they remain as of 2018.[27]
In 1917, the University of Oregon's journalism school established Oregon Exchanges, a monthly periodical "for the newspapermen of the State of Oregon." It was succeeded in 1932 by Oregon Publisher.[32]
The Annual Oregon Newspaper Conference is said to have been first held in 1916,[33] though another reference suggests it was established as much as a decade prior.[34] At the fourth such conference, in 1922, participants adopted Oregon Code of Ethics for Newspapers, considered the problem of paper cost, proposed a wireless news service, and held concurrent meetings of members of the Associated Press and United Press International.[35][36] A syndicate, headed by George Putnam, was established to address the problem of newsprint price.[37] The conference was covered in Editor and Publisher in 1925.[38] The ONPA revised and republished the Code of Ethics in 1951.[39]
In 1949 a Houghton-Mifflin textbook, Newsmen at Work, related stories of several reporters who originally hailed from Oregon, including Eric W. Allen (first dean of the University of Oregon School of Journalism), Palmer Hoyt (publisher of the Denver Post), and Charles E. Gratke (of the Christian Science Monitor). Laurence R. Campbell of the University of Oregon was a co-author of the book.[40][41]
During the George Floyd protests in summer 2020, independent journalists covered the events on a nightly basis, in contrast with local media (which sent reporters to some, but not all, of the events) and national media (which generally did not cover the story until federal agents arrived in Portland, about 45 days into the protests).[45]
A 2018 Columbia Journalism Review report noted the decline in dedicated statehouse reporters since the mid-2000s, and cited interviews with current and past members of the press corps as giving overall coverage of state politics a low rating. The report noted various new models for gathering state government news, such as a partnership in which the Pamplin Media Group and the East Oregonian news group share two statehouse reporters.[46]
The Oregonian is a daily newspaper based in Portland, Oregon, United States, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the U.S. West Coast, founded as a weekly by Thomas J. Dryer on December 4, 1850, and published daily since 1861. It is the largest newspaper in Oregon and the second largest in the Pacific Northwest by circulation. It is one of the few newspapers with a statewide focus in the United States. The Sunday edition is published under the title The Sunday Oregonian. The regular edition was published under the title The Morning Oregonian from 1861 until 1937.
The Register-Guard is a daily newspaper in the northwestern United States, published in Eugene, Oregon. It was formed in a 1930 merger of two Eugene papers, the Eugene Daily Guard and the Morning Register. The paper serves the Eugene-Springfield area, as well as the Oregon Coast, Umpqua River valley, and surrounding areas. As of 2019, it had a supposed circulation of 18,886 daily.
The Statesman Journal is the major daily newspaper published in Salem, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1851 as the Oregon Statesman, it later merged with the Capital Journal to form the current newspaper, the second-oldest in Oregon. The Statesman Journal is distributed in Salem, Keizer, and portions of the mid-Willamette Valley. The average weekday circulation was 27,859, with Sunday's readership listed at 36,323, in 2012. It is owned, along with the neighboring Stayton Mail and Silverton Appeal Tribune, by the national Gannett Company.
The Collegian or Willamette Collegian is the student-run newspaper of Willamette University in Salem, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1875, the weekly paper has been in continuous publication since 1889. It is a member of the College Publisher Network.
Mark Zusman is the editor and publisher of Willamette Week, an alternative newspaper and media company based in Portland, Oregon. He has been the paper's editor since 1983, and became its publisher in 2015, when Richard Meeker stepped down from that position.
The Portland Telegram was a daily newspaper serving Portland in the U.S. state of Oregon from 1877 until it was acquired by, and merged into, the Scripps-owned Portland News in 1931. The News had started out as the East Side News under secretive circumstances in 1906. The Telegram was a Democratic paper, despite its founder being a staunch Republican.
The Central Oregonian is a twice-weekly newspaper published in Prineville in the U.S. state of Oregon. Tracing its roots to 1881, the paper covers Central Oregon where it is the newspaper of record for Crook County.
The Lincoln County Leader was a weekly American newspaper published in Toledo, Oregon from 1893 to 1987. The newspaper was originally published as a Democratic paper, but its party affiliation changed with the ownership. For many years the newspaper was the primary journal in Lincoln County.
The Malheur Enterprise is a weekly newspaper in Vale, Oregon. It was established in 1909, and since October 2015 has been published by Malheur Enterprise Pub. Co. It is issued weekly on Wednesdays. Early on, it carried the title Malheur Enterprise and Vale Plaindealer. As of 2018 its circulation has been estimated at 1,207 to 1,277. Its print and online circulation in 2022 was approximately 3,000.
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 New Era is a newspaper in Sweet Home in the U.S. state of Oregon. It has been published weekly since its inception in 1929, and covers east Linn County. News historian George S. Turnbull opined in his 1939 History of Oregon Newspapers that despite the city's small size, the paper had been "lively and well made up."
The Portland Bee was a Republican newspaper in Portland in the U.S. state of Oregon in the late 19th century. It was launched in November 1875, the same year as the Portland Daily Bulletin disincorporated; like the Bulletin, it had both daily and weekly editions. It initially had two daily editions, and circulated 1,000 free copies.
The Silverton Appeal Tribune was a weekly newspaper published in Silverton in the U.S. state of Oregon. It was published by the Statesman Journal; both papers, along with the nearby Stayton Mail, are owned by the national Gannett Company.
Oregon Exchanges was an American newspaper published by the University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communications (SOJC) in the early 20th century. It initially described itself as a "Newspaper for Newspaper Men"; by 1930, it had adopted the gender-neutral slogan "For the Newspaper Folk of the State of Oregon." Its first issue was published in June 1917, the year after the school's founding. By the October issue, it was announced that students in the editing class would edit the publication. By 1920, students were producing the newspaper as part of their coursework in a course titled "Practical Editing." The paper was reportedly greeted with much praise at a 1922 convention of Sigma Delta Chi, a national journalism society.
Samuel Asahel Clarke was a poet and an early journalist of the U.S. state of Oregon. Born in Cuba and educated in New York City, Clarke went to California to prospect for gold in 1849, and then to Oregon in 1850, where he lived initially in Portland prior to its incorporation. He filed a land claim south of Salem, which became his permanent home; he later built up an orchard there. He married Harriet T. Buckingham.
The Stayton Mail was a weekly newspaper serving Stayton in the U.S. state of Oregon, founded in 1894. It was published by the Statesman Journal; both papers, along with the nearby Silverton Appeal Tribune, are owned by the national Gannett Company.
Sandra Mims Rowe is an American journalist. She is the former editor of The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk, Virginia, and of The Oregonian, in Portland, Oregon. She was one of the few women editors of metro newspapers in the 1980s, and was the first woman editor at The Virginian-Pilot and The Oregonian. She was the second female president of the American Society of News Editors, a decade after Kay Fanning, the editor of The Christian Science Monitor, was the first.
George Stanley Turnbull was an English-American scholar and educator. He began a career of newspaper work in 1894 and helped found the University of Oregon School of Journalism in 1917, later serving as acting dean and, from 1944 to 1948, as dean. He founded and edited Oregon Exchanges, a newspaper for Oregon's "newspaper folk," which was at least initially produced by students at the School of Journalism.
The Mercury, later The Sunday Mercury, was a weekly newspaper founded in Salem, Oregon in 1869, and moved to Portland a few years later. Oregon writer Homer Davenport described approaching the Mercury when he arrived in Portland as a young man, and being sent to New Orleans to cover and draw pictures of the Fitzsimmons-Dempsey fight.
↑ MacColl, E. Kimbark (1979). The Growth of a City: Power and Politics in Portland, Oregon 1915–1950. Portland, Oregon: The Georgian Press. ISBN0-9603408-1-5.
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