From the newsroom: I flew to Chicago to help Gales Creek have a better newspaper

I’m writing this 25 minutes before the print deadline for our small weekly newspaper. I’m so behind on my deadline because I returned Monday evening from a trip to Chicago, where I gathered with a few hundred owners of independent news publications from all over the United States and Canada.

We were there to figure out how to make each and every one of our independent publications resilient, sustainable and able to deliver the best journalism in what has become a distressed industry.

I learned from people who’ve struggled with starting a largely online newspaper in the 21st century while legacy media outlets crumble around them.

I commiserated with fellow single-person newsrooms, and shared notes on mistakes we’ve made and things we’ve learned.

I sat down with experts in advertising who told me the way I’m doing advertising is boring and not as effective for our local businesses as it could be.

I learned from innovative publications who’ve found extra ways to keep the lights on, like guided walks, community events and more.

I learned more ways to build on some improvements I’ve been making to our websites and email newsletters.

I was one of two Oregonians at the conference, which is not surprising. Oregon has increasingly few news publications, and very few locally owned, independent news publications like the Gales Creek Journal & our sister publication the Banks Post.

The majority of “local” newspapers in this part of Oregon are now owned by out-of-state chains that are shutting newspapers down, like in Sherwood, which just lost their newspaper thanks to Carpenter Media. Carpenter Media bought almost every newspaper in the Portland Metro area in June and almost immediately began shuttering newsrooms and laying off talented Oregonians who have dedicated their careers to local community journalism.

I can’t stop that from happening. But I can look at every aspect of this little news experiment I’ve been running for the last seven or so years and find better ways to do it.

One conclusion I’ve come to: I need to take this from a one-man show to at least two people. I am doing too much with too little, and it’s making it so I can’t do enough journalism here in Gales Creek & Banks and I can’t do enough of the “publishing” side of things to make this work long term.

I’ll share more in the weeks and months to come, but expect big changes. If you’ve just opened this story and don’t have a subscription, the best way you can help this newspaper thrive is to get a digital subscription. It’s less than $100 for a year to read all of our news online. If you’re willing to spend a little, know that I’m going to be spending a lot to make this work, for the long haul.

Yours truly, Chas Hundley, Editor, Publisher, Janitor, etc

P.S. The other Oregonian I met in Chicago has an online publication recently launched in Newberg and Dundee. If you know anyone out there, tell them to check out newsberg.org, if nothing else than for the incredible name their founder, Branden Andersen came up with. Then stay for the local community journalism their small outfit is producing.