An independent newspaper that covers the city of Oakridge will shut down in mid-September, with its board citing financial troubles as the reason for the closure.
The shutdown was announced through an Aug. 22 website update and a corresponding Facebook post, with the publication stating that its final day of operation would be Sept. 15.
Board member and former Oakridge Mayor Kathy Holston authored the post, explaining that the newspaper was “no longer able to continue operation” and would close the following month.
The Highway 58 Herald launched in 2021, according to a February feature on the publication from the University of Oregon’s student newspaper, The Daily Emerald. The paper was started after the previous Oakridge newspaper, the weekly Dead Mountain Echo, ceased operations following nearly 50 years in business.
Journalist and Oakridge resident Doug Bates served as the Highway 58 Herald’s first editor. Bates had previously been part of the two-person team from The Oregonian that won a Pulitzer Prize in 2006 for editorials addressing abuse at the Oregon State Hospital.
Throughout its five years of operation, the Highway 58 Herald reported on local news and community events, the outdoors, public safety and other topics.
The paper relied on contributing reporters, a volunteer board and the leadership of editor Ellie Graham, who took over as editor in March after initially joining the publication as a graduate student through the University of Oregon’s School of Journalism and Communication.
“We have eagerly sought reporters and paid for those services,” reads the announcement of the paper’s impending closure. “We have kept the cost to the bare bones and looked for ways to save on the necessary services required. But, even with being frugal, the costs associated with licensing for the website platform, paying a service to keep it up and functioning, paying reporters and an editor have outpaced our income stream. A news source needs advertisers and financial supporters to pay the bills.”
It marks the second independent newsroom in Lane County to close this month. The Chronicle, a hyperlocal print newspaper that had covered the cities of Springfield, Cottage Grove, Creswell and Pleasant Hill since 1909, announced its own shutdown in a column on Aug. 11.
Those interested in weighing in on the future of rural journalism along Highway 58 are encouraged to reach out to the Highway 58 Herald board by email at [email protected].
Annie Aguiar
Annie Aguiar is the Arts and Culture Correspondent. She has reported arts news and features for national and local newsrooms, including at the Seattle Times, the Washington Post and most recently as a reporting fellow for the New York Times’ Culture desk covering arts and entertainment.
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