EO Media Group

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The EO Media Group 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 is owned by the Aldrich and Forrester families, members of which previously owned several newspapers (including the East Oregonian and The Daily Astorian) independently.[3][4] 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.[5] 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.[6]

In addition to the East Oregonian, Daily Astorian, and The Bulletin in Bend, the group publishes the Blue Mountain Eagle, The Hermiston Herald, and the Wallowa County Chieftain in Eastern Oregon.[7] The company also owns the Capital Press (an agricultural paper in Salem, Oregon), the Chinook Observer (Long Beach, Washington), and several other publications on the northern Oregon Coast: the Seaside Signal,[8] (Lincoln City, Oregon), and the Coast River Business Journal.[7]

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.[9] 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.[10]

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 .[11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18]

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 will be distributed by the Oregon State University Press.[2]

In 2019, EO Media Group acquired the Baker City Herald, The Observer (La Grande),[19] The Bulletin (Bend) and The Redmond Spokesman [20] from Western Communications.[21]

References[]

  1. ^ Rafter, Michelle V. (January 31, 2009). "Good News for Small Papers". Oregon Business. Retrieved November 8, 2018.
  2. ^ a b c d Bengel, Erick (October 19, 2018). "'Grit and Ink' documents a newspaper family". The East Oregonian.
  3. ^ "New chief operating officer takes over at EOPC". Wallowa County Chieftain. June 2, 2005.
  4. ^ Church, Foster (February 23, 2000). "Longtime Journalist J.W. 'Bud' Forrester Jr. Dies: In a Newspaper Career that Spanned Six Decades, Forrester Combined Journalism and Public Service". The Oregonian.
  5. ^ Turnbull, George S. (1939). "Umatilla County" . History of Oregon Newspapers . Binfords & Mort.
  6. ^ "Changes at the helms". The Bulletin (Bend, Oregon). July 13, 1973, p. 4.
  7. ^ a b "EO Media Group – Publications". Retrieved July 31, 2018.
  8. ^ "Signal Sold". Seaside Signal. February 28, 2013. Archived from the original on March 4, 2013.
  9. ^ "Series on forests earns regional journalism award". The Daily Astorian. May 21, 2012.
  10. ^ "Newspaper group earns environmental award for forest series | News | dailyastorian.com".
  11. ^ Hare, Kristen (September 24, 2018). "In Oregon, three news organizations are teaming up to cover state government". Poynter. Retrieved October 30, 2018.
  12. ^ Ingram, Mathew (September 26, 2018). "Zuckerberg's death grip on Instagram". Columbia Journalism Review. Retrieved October 30, 2018.
  13. ^ "Salem Reporter joins 2 news groups to expand state reporting". Salem Reporter. September 24, 2018. Retrieved October 30, 2018.
  14. ^ "Media teams join forces to cover state government, politics". Portland Tribune. September 24, 2018. Retrieved October 30, 2018.
  15. ^ "Expanded state government reporting comes to Oregon". Blue Mountain Eagle. September 24, 2018. Retrieved October 30, 2018.
  16. ^ "EO Media Group, Pamplin launch Salem bureau for statehouse reporting". Capital Press. August 1, 2014. Retrieved 2018-10-30.
  17. ^ "Newsletter covering Oregon government debuts". Blue Mountain Eagle. February 23, 2015. Retrieved October 30, 2018.
  18. ^ "oregoncapitalinsider.com | Oregon Capital Insider is an independent source of exclusive news and insight about state government delivered conveniently by email each Friday to subscribers".
  19. ^ "Purchase of Observer, Herald becomes final | Local News | eastoregonian.com".
  20. ^ "EO Media Group buys Bend Bulletin | Local News | eastoregonian.com".
  21. ^ Group, PHIL WRIGHT EO Media. "Observer's company buys Bend Bulletin". Chinook Observer. Retrieved 2020-04-05.

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