The Roseburg News-Review will soon move to a once-a-week print edition
Starting July 11, the printed newspaper will come out every Friday—instead of five days a week—and focus on longer-term stories and a news recap for the week. An online version of the newspaper will still be published daily.
“This shift allows us to preserve what matters most – quality journalism – while adapting to the realities of the industry,” managing editor Drew Winkelmaier announced to readers last Friday.
Erica Reynolds, the News Editor at the News-Review, said the paper’s print subscribers weren’t enough to support the print product. The decision to move towards an online version of the paper is an attempt to honor both sides of the paper’s audience, she said.
“We are seeing a lot more online interactions,” Reynolds said. “We're trying to find that balance between our older demographics, who obviously want that paper in their hands, and the more modern way of doing news to where we can update a story right away online.”
The News-Review has been a daily paper since 1867, serving the residents of Douglas County.
Since the News-Review’s founding, the news landscape has changed drastically. In recent years, dozens of newspapers in Oregon have closed or merged while readership has shifted to online publications and social media.
Reynolds said this shift doesn’t need to be a negative. “I think this is just going to give (readers) another way of finding a reputable news source,” she said.
The weekly model could also offer more time for reporters to do the research and interviews necessary for more in-depth news stories.
“I'm hoping that this opens up some of the time for my reporters to be able to do the deeper investigative reporting that we used to do, that a lot of our people are asking for us to go back to,” Reynolds said.
While the push for more online content over a print product may be disconcerting for some readers, Reynolds emphasized that the News-Review isn’t planning on closing its doors anytime soon.
“Just because we're changing doesn't mean we're going away,” she said. “We've been doing this for over 150 years, and we're going to keep doing it until we absolutely can’t.”
