On Friday, Jan. 13, I was mourning the demise of the Medford Mail Tribune, the fifth-largest newspaper in the state, which had just produced its final edition after more than a century of publication. Rosebud Media, which had purchased the paper just five years earlier, said it could no longer keep the doors open due to plunging advertising revenues and (rather oddly, I thought) the difficulty of finding qualified staff.

To my way of thinking, the death of a newspaper is always a sad thing. Newspapers provide a reliable source of accurate information about what’s happening locally as well as acting as a watchdog over local government and institutions. But perhaps even more important, newspapers provide the thread that helps stitch communities together, connecting us with our neighbors in ways no other local institution can.

Now, as I write this note one week later, I find myself celebrating the joyful news that EO Media Group — the parent company of the Blue Mountain Eagle — intends to fill the void left by the Mail Tribune’s untimely death by launching a brand-new publication, The Tribune. Plans call for a new website to go live around Feb. 1, with a print edition to be mailed out to subscribers three days a week (the Mail Tribune halted print publication last fall). EO Media plans to hire a full staff, including 14 newsroom employees, with ex-Mail Trib staffers getting first crack at those jobs.

As we all know, the newspaper industry faces all kinds of challenges these days. Since 2005, fully one-quarter of America’s newspapers — 2,500 of them — have shut their doors, according to the New York Times, creating news deserts all over the country. Medford, Oregon’s eighth-largest city, could have been one of them — but it won’t be, thanks to EO Media’s willingness to buck the trend. (It should be noted that the Grants Pass Daily Courier has also announced plans to expand into the Medford area and has already hired several former Mail Tribune journalists; that, too, is good news.) 

As I sit here today, I feel proud of EO Media’s commitment to the future of community journalism. Starting a newspaper in today’s media landscape is a bold move, and one that speaks of a deep-rooted faith in the enduring value of newspapers to the communities they serve. And it gives me added confidence that the Blue Mountain Eagle — like the dozen other Oregon newspapers the company owns — can look forward to a secure future.

In case you missed our last edition, it featured stories on an innovative teacher housing project in Monument, a Prairie City man’s prize-winning fighting bull, the stalemate over filling an open seat on the John Day City Council and the Grant Union wrestling team’s performance at the Oregon Classic in Redmond.

This week, watch for stories on the furor over a Grant Union Junior High School teacher’s sexually suggestive class assignment (which you can read now on our website), plans for a possible taxing district to raise money for the Grant County Sheriff’s Office and the retirement of Grant School District Superintendent Louis Dix after less than a year on the job. 

As always, I want to take this opportunity to thank our subscribers for their support. We can’t do this work without you!