Nature Abhors a Vacuum
Two is better than zero.
Medford's newspaper story is itself a news story. The Seattle Times headlined that a newspaper war is underway here.
The Daily Courier publishes five days a week in the afternoon, so this morning's newspaper's e-edition looks like this:
The giant barn that burned and confounded traffic is on Arnold Lane near Medford, and the story at the bottom of the page is about Medford's newspapers. The top story about the fugitive who kidnapped women, meeting them through dating sites, is of regional interest since he may be hiding here in Southern Oregon. Page two shows local, i.e. Rogue Valley weather. Page three has a story about the death in prison of a repeat offender from Medford, a story about a two-car accident near the corner of Main Street and Crater Lake Avenue in Medford, in which a man was killed, and a story about a Medford man being sentenced to two years in prison for ramming a Grants Pass man in the face with a pipe.
I had feared a Potemkin Village element to the Courier's coverage of Medford-area news. I learned from watching mergers and acquisitions in the financial industry that acquirers say they want to provide full and continuing service to new acquisitions. They talk a good game, but what they really want is the clients and their revenue, not the hard work of servicing those clients. I feared the Courier would attempt to give the illusion of local news coverage, but not its reality. I take a glass-half-full perspective and the trend is good. They have hired three former Mail Tribune employees so far. The Courier is overtly regionalizing the paper. It will be a real newspaper for Southern Oregon when reporters sit in on city council and county commissioner meetings and do follow-up stories on the slow low-drama events that unfold in a community. The important stories don't have photos of burning barns. We will see if they in fact staff up for that, but I like what I see so far.
As the Courier gears up to cover Jackson County they pay the price of new reporters. "If you build it they will come" works better in a dreamy baseball movie than in real life. Local readers need to find the Courier and integrate it into their lives. The Courier is paying a second price, and it may be the greater one. For over a century the Courier was the Grants Pass and Josephine County paper. They covered "Caveman" sports as the home team. The Courier was the WE in a we-versus-everybody-else world. Grants Pass readers are learning about a Medford-area barn fire. What do they care if a fire fouls traffic in Medford? Medford is there to them, not here. The Courier needs to change minds about that in its home turf.
Their problem is exacerbated by the politics of Oregon. The mindset of we-versus-Portland-liberal-Democrats is very strong in Southern Oregon, but especially so in rural, libertarian Josephine County. Medford and Ashland are not allies here. Jackson County voted for Obama in 2008. The southern half of Jackson County elects a Democrat to the state senate. Relative to Grants Pass, Medford is the big city sophisticate--not Portland surely, but not Grants Pass, either.
Into all this comes EO Media, a Salem-based group of 18 newspapers including the Bend Bulletin and Pendleton East Oregonian. They plan a three-day-a-week digital newspaper, staffed with 14 local reporters and editors--far more than proposed by the Courier. They announced that a physical newspaper will come by mail and, later in 2023, they plan delivery service. They announced it would be named the Rogue Valley Tribune, although that is already a problem. The litigious owner of the defunct Mail Tribune has objected, saying they cannot use that name. The Rogue Valley Tribune, or whatever it will be called, is selling subscriptions now. They say the digital newspaper will start publishing before February 18.
What should Medford-area residents do? I recommend they subscribe to both new newspapers. Give them a chance.
Note: Tomorrow, another update. The Rogue Valley Tribune has arranged to house its editorial staff in downtown Medford in space leased from the Southern Oregon Historical Society.
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3 comments:
In one of the editorials Steven Saslow wrote shortly after acquiring the Mail Tribune, he parroted NRA propaganda claiming that Hitler took power by taking away people’s guns. Of course, that’s a boldfaced lie. What Hitler took away was their free press, a movement spreading in the U.S. that Saslow soon brought here. He has no trademark rights over the word ‘Tribune,’ so I hope the Rogue Valley Tribune will tell him to KMA. That would be a good start in assuring us they’re not afraid to call ‘bullshit’ and confront bullies.
Scott Stoddard is a very savvy honest editor. I really don’t think the Courier is planning on skimming the cream off Medford to sell more local papers. I believe this is a commitment. More stories bigger paper, more reporters will be hired. The Vorhees family has been here forever. Just wait until the Courier starts taking apart Jackson County Commissioners like they have taken on the Josephine County Gang of Three Stooges. Who will write about local events? The hired reporters of Medford not an out of area rag that comes in to work the ad base. Many Grants Pass people work in Jackson County. They will not mind having a larger police blotter, and more entertainment venues to read about. Go Courier!
Glad to see local efforts pushing out the corporate media. Now to get Sinclair out of the market ...
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