Eugene Register-Guard sold to GateHouse

Long time family-owned paper decides to get out, sells to GateHouse. Will be interesting to see the direction the new owners take this paper.

Eugene Register-Guard sold to GateHouse Media

 

Only one direction to go with GateHouse.

 

Yup. You can look at any other GateHouse property to see what direction that is.

 

Sorry to see this ... the Register-Guard was a solid paper for its size.

Here's something that, unfortunately, will change quickly under GateHouse:

 

Commence layoffs, buyouts, space cuts, budget cuts, and then some in 3, 2, 1...

 

Lancey said it on another thread, I know, but stuff like this foretells the end times of our industry.

In five years it'll be the NYT, WaPo, about eight other regional newspapers, and (maybe) a bunch of weekly shoppers.

 

The Florida Times-Union, now another GateHouse paper, laid off eight or 10 from the newsroom last week.

Skin and bones, man. Skin and bones.

 

The Intelligencer and the Bucks County Courier Times were sold to Gatehouse officially on July 1. They laid off a bunch of people a few days after Labor Day and reduced the stringer budget (part of which has been restored). Sports staff is down to an editor and three writers. Everything else is done by stringers when budget allows.

Some of the people who were let go are now part of the stringer corps but it was a massive bloodletting

 

Here's the thing about the R-G. I've been reading it since moving here nearly 10 years ago, which included four years competing against the paper. In a four-year span, the R-G had three rounds of sizable layoffs. The paper isn't what it used to be, due largely to the newsroom cuts. A lot of local stuff that used to be covered, at least to some extent, simply doesn't happen anymore.
So yes, Gatehouse will gut it. I don't think anyone is expecting otherwise. But the R-G has already been sliding; this will just accelerate the slide.

 

I guess the last time I saw an R-G print edition was about five years ago, so maybe that was before they started cutting staff.

Having been through Portland a year ago, it was shocking to see how far the Oregonian has fallen. And as you note, that's without GateHouse's "golden touch."

 

I think this fits in here ...

How Many Palm Beach Mansions Does a Wall Street Tycoon Need?