Occasionally we’ll get complaints on our Facebook page from people who don’t understand why they can’t click on an article link and read it for free, even though they don’t subscribe to the newspaper.
As I’ve explained in this space before, we use our Facebook page primarily as a way to promote our content. We want people to click on the links, yes; but we can’t just give our content away for free. It takes a lot of time and effort to report the news, to track down and interview sources, run down documents, file public records requests, take and process photos, write and edit stories, tag & flag the stories and photos for the web and shepherd the best of them into our weekly print edition.
This is our product, and yes, we want people to pay for it, either by buying a copy of our printed paper or purchasing a subscription. Non-subscribers can get two free pageviews a month on our website (with the exception of Subscriber Exclusive articles, which are available only to paying subscribers). Our hope is they will decide they want more and will purchase a subscription.
All that being said, there are some stories that we routinely make available on our website to anyone, free of charge.
All summer long, the Blue Mountain Eagle and its sister websites throughout Northeastern Oregon published hundreds of wildfire stories, from updates on individual fires to evacuation alerts, notices of road and area closures, and notices of reopening roads and newly accessible public lands — all at no charge. We did the same thing during election season: All of our election previews and election result stories were free online. During the pandemic, we also made our coverage of COVID-19 outbreaks, vaccine clinics and so forth available at no charge.
When it comes to critical election reporting or emergency information that people need to have as quickly as possible as a matter of public safety, we take down our paywall as a matter of civic responsibility. For everything else, it stays up — because we have to charge for our product in order to stay in business, and we have to stay in business in order to keep bringing you the news that matters to Grant County.
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Your digital subscription access has been expanded to include the East Oregonian, Baker City Herald, Blue Mountain Eagle, Hermiston Herald, The Observer and Wallowa County Chieftain.
For all digital access:
• Simply register your account on every site you wish to read with the same email address and password you currently use.
• Once you’ve registered, enter your username and password to enjoy the full range of content on that news site.
• You should not have to login again unless you log out, clear history or experience software updates.
• Save your password when prompted by your browser and if you are inadvertently logged out, your browser can fill in your login and password for you. (Only use this option on your personal digital devices.)
To view the latest e-Editions, be sure to register your account and sign in to www.eastoregonian.com.
Sign up for e-newsletters from each website by going to the “Email lists” link on your account dashboard for each site.
Thank you for supporting local journalists in Eastern Oregon.
If you have any questions or need assistance, please contact us at 800-781-3214 or email support@eomediagroup.com.
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If you have comments or questions about the Blue Mountain Eagle, or want to pass along a story idea, send me an email at this address: editor@bmeagle.com.
If you haven’t yet become a subscriber, click on the button at the bottom of this newsletter to see our latest offer. And if you are already a subscriber, please accept my heartfelt thanks. We can’t do this vital work without you.
Bennett Hall is the editor of the Blue Mountain Eagle.
