MEDFORD, Ore. — Medford's Mail Tribune will cease operations this week after serving Southern Oregon for more than a century, the newspaper announced Wednesday.
"It is with heavy hearts that we announce that as of Friday, Jan. 13, 2023, the Mail Tribune will cease all operations," publisher Steven Saslow wrote in a brief post to the paper's website. "This was a difficult business decision; the shuttering of this institution is a real loss for all constituents in Southern Oregon."
Saslow bought the Mail Tribune and the Ashland Daily Tidings in 2017, operating them under the label Rosebud Media and bringing in a new emphasis on video and digital media. Rosebud partnered with KTVL, the Sinclair-owned television station in Medford, and eventually came to share the same building.
The Mail Tribune ceased offering a print publication in October of 2022, continuing in an online-only format. Saslow said at the time that the paper's online readership was about three times higher than the number of print readers.
Even prior to fall of last year, the paper had already gone from printing the newspaper seven days a week to printing four days per week. The Ashland Daily Tidings ceased to exist in 2021.
Saslow said in his Wednesday statement that continuing the Mail Tribune had become "unsustainable" due to a loss in newspaper advertising industry-wide, along with "rising costs of content" and difficulty hiring managers and staff.
The Mail Tribune's last issue will be on Friday, Jan. 13. Saslow said that paid subscribers would get refunds within 60 days, and the company would be reaching out to advertisers and vendors within the next few weeks.
Saslow did not indicate how many people would be losing their jobs when the paper folds. In September, the Mail Tribune said that it would still employ between 40 and 50 people after ceasing its print edition.
Though the newspaper has changed ownership a number of times, it began operations more than a century ago. The Mail Tribune traces its roots back to 1906, when the Medford Mail published a morning paper while the rival Medford Daily Tribune published an afternoon paper. The two merged under a single editor in 1909, becoming the Mail Tribune.
In 1934, the Mail Tribune became the first Oregon paper to win a Pulitzer Prize, awarded for meritorious public service "after Editor Robert Ruhl stood up to a gang of unscrupulous politicians," according to the paper.
The newspaper's demise leaves Jackson County without a paper, though there are other news outlets in the region.
The publisher of the Grants Pass Daily Courier in neighboring Josephine County released a statement Wednesday, saying that his paper would attempt to expand its coverage into Jackson County.
"The Daily Courier will attempt to hire some of the Mail Tribune’s top journalists to make sure this happens as quickly as possible," said Travis Moore, Daily Courier publisher. "The more support the Daily Courier receives from advertisers and subscribers in Jackson County, the quicker these changes can be implemented."
In early 2022, the entire news staff of the Herald and News in Klamath Falls — another flagship newspaper in Southern Oregon — resigned their jobs, citing longtime issues over reporter pay and workload. The newspaper continues to operate and offers a print edition four days a week.
