Print media is hard. That’s not news to anyone reading this column. Each week brings a new and sobering headline from the print media world — usually a headline that includes the word “shuttering” (which, coincidentally enough, makes me shudder). So, when we received an email from The Arena Group, owners of Parade magazine as well as Spry Living, with the subject line in all caps saying PLEASE READ, I prepared myself for the worst.
Today, we are announcing changes in the way we deliver our brands to our readers. We have made the difficult decision to wind down the print distribution of Parade, Relish and Spry Living, and I wanted you to hear this news from me first. Our last print issue of Parade is November 6 and we will no longer publish Relish and Spry Living after their October issues.
The bad news: October will be the last month The Observer will carry Spry Living magazine as the publication will be entirely discontinued. Parade magazine will end 80-plus years of print publication in mid-November and will no longer be an insert in hundreds of newspapers across the U.S. — including the East Oregonian, our sister newspaper in Pendleton.
The good news: Parade will continue to publish an e-edition, a digital version of the magazine, that will be carried in the e-edition of The Observer and Baker City Herald every Saturday. The Arena Group is also offering additional digital content that we may choose to use online if it aligns with our publication goals and is a good fit for our readers.
As the print industry continues to evolve, our focus remains solidly on providing quality content that serves our community with accurate and credible local news and information. Our newsroom delivers that content every day of the week through the website, app and newsletters. Three days a week that content is designed for delivery via our print product and in our e-edition, the digital version of our print pages.
The number of people subscribing to The Observer is growing, and it should come as no surprise that those new readers are predominantly seeking digital subscriptions, rather than our printed edition — as our new audience recognizes that the value of the newspaper is in the news, not in the paper.
The Mail Tribune in Medford announced last month it would no longer be printing newspapers effective at the end of September. An email to commercial print customers read, “Due to the cost to print and deliver our own newspapers, supply-chain instability and continuous cost increases, and the inevitable subscriber migration to consuming more (if not all) digital news content, we have decided to shut down our printing press as of September 29, 2022.”
The Mail Tribune follows the Ashland Daily Tidings in discontinuing printing newspapers altogether and delivering news completely online. Metro newspaper the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in Georgia announced they are considering dropping from daily publication to weekly, much as the nonprofit Salt Lake Tribune is now only producing one print edition a week in favor of online delivery of their news content.
The Observer’s parent company, EO Media Group, has made similar decisions in the last couple of years, shuttering its printing presses in Pendleton and Bend and outsourcing printing of its papers, including all of the company’s east-side publications, like The Observer. EO Media Group plans to continue to print newspapers. There remains a clear demand for those tangible print editions in our rural communities.
As we look to our future, our focus and mission is to continually serve our readers with credible, professionally created local news and information. Delivery of that content will continue to evolve and improve as does the variety of ways to reach our audience.
If you haven’t already, take a moment to register your subscription for digital access of The Observer. Call 800-781-3214 to talk to one of our customer service staff who will be happy to walk you through the process. It’s easy, takes just a few moments to get set up and allows you to take advantage of our e-edition, app and website delivery along with your print subscription.
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Karrine Brogoitti is the publisher of The Observer and the Baker City Herald.
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