• by Ray Schultz , November 20, 2023

The News-Register, a news publication serving Yamhill County, Oregon, has announced several measures to fight a “broken publishing business model,” in the words of Jeb Bladine, president and publisher of the News-Register. 

These changes will take place early in 2024. According to Bladine, the News-Register is planning:

• Reduced print publication — one of its twice-weekly print publications will be eliminated, reducing costs for production, printing and mailing, and opening up press time for outside clients
• Smaller newspaper page size —  the printed newspaper page size will have a 25% reduction, a move that aligns with reader requests for a smaller newspaper; additionally, there will be a doubling of the page-count for single-section press capacity 
• Increased digital publication — the newspaper will expand to three digital “e-editions” each week 

Bladine writes, “Entire categories of advertising previously delivered in the newspaper business have mostly disappeared: department store, grocery, automotive, real estate, furniture and others.” 

But he adds, “Those losses, thankfully, have been partially offset by some popular special newspaper sections that have been supported by the local business community.

Bladine continues, “Subscription sales remained relatively stable, but that portion of newspaper revenues has been sliced and diced by ever-increasing costs of production. And as print publications shrank, closed or converted to digital, our Oregon Lithoprint printing division experienced 30 percent reductions in sales.

He also notes, "We have maintained a news/editorial staff larger than most community newspapers in the region."

The News-Register also has a plan in place for increasing revenue. This includes:

• Lower advertising rates that will help small businesses
• Generating more digital advertising traffic by building website traffic 
• Premium subscriber offers
• Donation opportunities
• “Community Partner” program expansion