Forrester

Some years prior to my father’s death in 2000, he surprised me with an admonition and request. “Don’t sell the newspapers until I’m dead,” he said. I understood the sentiment and anxiety underlying his request, but it was far from my mind when that day would come.

And now that day has arrived. Carpenter Media Group is set to acquire EO Media Group on Nov. 1. And I would be lying if I said that this is not an emotional moment for me. The roots of my sentiment stretch back to the 1950s, when I went inside the old East Oregonian building in Pendleton. My father’s office had been occupied by my grandfather, Edwin Burton Aldrich.

Selling a family business is, of course, a financial transaction. But we are also selling the family heritage, which spans 116 years.

Over decades, our family has built links with the communities we serve. That is especially so with respect to Pendleton and Astoria. My aunt, Amy Bedford, put much of her life into creation of the Pendleton River Parkway. In Astoria, The Daily Astorian led a decadelong drive to restore the Liberty Theatre. And in John Day, we were enormously proud of our publisher of the Blue Mountain Eagle, Marissa Williams, and our editor Scotta Callister for standing up to the Aryan Nations, which sought to establish a new homeland in Grant County. All of this is in “Grit and Ink: An Oregon Family’s Adventures in Newspapering, 1908-2018” by the historian William Willingham.

More recently we have forged connections with communities in Bend, Redmond and other parts of Oregon, where EO acquired new newspapers. Among the work we are proud of was the yearlong series The Bulletin did on homeless people of Deschutes County.

It is often said that nothing will change with a new ownership. However, our industry is marked by constant change. We are encouraged by the financial resources of our buyer, the Carpenter Media Group, and its desire to maintain good journalism.

Todd Carpenter said his desire is to “build on the foundations put down by the Forrester family as we continue to innovate and work to support true professional journalism for each community served. We know our readers depend on us for timely reporting of facts so they can be informed and contribute to improvement of the places they live. We pledge to work hard to meet that obligation as we simultaneously work to serve small and medium-size business with marketing programs that strengthen the business, the community and thus the newspaper. We are all in it together and have a vested interest in strengthening the institutions that make us a community, beginning with its newspapers.”

In my 33 years as the newspaper’s editor, I repeatedly told visitors that my days were never dull.

We owe thanks to the communities that we live and work in for letting us be more than just a daily delivery of local news. You’ve trusted us to tell your stories, sometimes to challenge you, and often to give voice to what matters most here. And to the business communities, who supported us through the highs and lows and kept us printing, we are grateful for your support.

Oregon is a remarkably newsy place, with communities ranging from historical to modern, urban to rural. Our new owners will find that it is an especially exciting place to be in the news business.