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Editorial cartooning

Oregonian to end daily run?

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The Willamette Weekly reported yesterday that The Oregonian may cease to be a daily based on actions by Advance Publications, Inc who dropped the New Orleans Times-Picayune to a 3x week paper and has said that it’s considering altering printing schedules of other papers in the chain – the Oregonian being one of their papers. They also say management has indicated that they’d end up like the Times-Picayune.:

For years, editors and executives at The Oregonian denied Portland?s newspaper would ever be less than a daily. But in the newsroom, the announcement in New Orleans shattered any illusions.

Staffers here say Oregonian editors now indicate the paper is likely to follow suit, although no one is saying when that will happen or how many days the newspaper will drop from its publishing schedule.

But Jim Romenesko reports that Oregonian publisher is denying it. The publicher, N. Christian Anderson III, tells Romenesko that the Willamette Weekly is wrong stating, “I have not told people that we’re changing our publishing schedule. Nor have I hinted at that. Any characterization to the contrary is simply incorrect.”

I note that this is not a complete denial of the talk of dropping from a daily – he only denies that he’s not told anyone that they would.

We’ll have to watch and see. The Oregonian has been around for 162 years and is home to editorial cartoonist Jack Ohman.

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Comments 13

  1. Another daily newspaper schedule bites the dust. Trivia question: What was the last new comic strip that was launched in newspapers ? Seems like eons ago.

  2. I have no idea Ryan… Was it Pearls Before Swine?

    I have a feeling the answer and date of first publication is going to crush my dream…..

    lol………..

  3. GIL was the most recent comic launched in newspapers. It launched in a handful of papers earlier this year. Jan 2 2012.

    There have been dozens of strips launched in papers since Pearls.

  4. So, Norm, it was your strip, Gil ? (which I love by the way). I do remember reading about Gil’s launch and feeling good for you because of how you presevered and never gave up on it. For some reason I was thinking it may have been Rip Haywire, but apparently I was way off. 🙂

  5. @Norm- Gil really stands out in the Chicago Tribune Sunday page. Great art and great characters.

  7. I think Dustin was a newer strip as well. Also Diesel Sweeties spent time in syndication though that’s not as recent.

  8. #3 >GIL was the most recent comic launched in newspapers.<
    And the next will be Mike Lester's "Mike Du Jour":
    http://www.wpmediaservices.com/comics/MikeDuJour.htm
    One new syndicated comic strip every 10 months!

    In April Creators moved Metlen/Mallinson/Gabriel's "Hope & Death" from 'in development' to the regular syndicated strips on their roster.
    http://www.creators.com/comics/cat-seeall.html
    Does anyone (Alan?) know if it being offered to newspapers or is in any newspapers?

  9. Freshly Squeezed was United’s last launch. Thatababy was Universal’s most recent.

  10. While I read my local paper, the Miami Herald, daily, you know, holding the actual paper in my hands, it’s been years since I read the comics in the actual paper. I read them online even though the Herald has a comics section.

  11. Back to the original point of Alan’s posting: Dropping a newspaper to an occasional schedule destroys the daily habit of picking up and reading a newspaper. Making it thrice-weekly or such will push print readers to look elsewhere on non-printing days, and will likely accelerate that newspaper’s circulation decline.

    And going thrice-weekly threatens the job of Jack Ohman, who is a terrific cartoonist who really makes a difference in his market. If he loses his job, it would be particularly tragic for the cartooning profession.

  12. Moving to a thrice-weekly printing will NOT push readers to look elsewhere…mainly because newspaper readers have already left the print platform. Newspapers are just trying to cut their way out of this societal tech change….and are failing miserably.

    Changing print schedule should not have any effect on Ohman’s job…as the Oregonian needs his work more now than ever to help their transition and keep their brand in the mind of Portland’s newsreaders.

    The Oregonian has a monopoly with Ohamn’s fantastic cartoons….the question is….will they maximize their monopoly….or will they like most of America’s idiot print managers- abdicate that monopoly and then wonder why they just aren’t making money like they used to…..?

    Time will tell……

  13. Most of us will still be alive to hear people ask, “What’s a newspaper?”

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