Malheur Enterprise closing after 115 years as owners retire
The closure comes after the rural weekly, founded in 1909, earned a national reputation for tough investigative reporting holding public officials accountable. Last year, it was judged the best newspaper of its size in Oregon.
Publisher Les Zaitz, 69, and his wife, Scotta Callister, 72, former Enterprise publisher, have owned the newspaper since 2015. They each have been in Oregon journalism for 50 years – a combined record of a century of service to the state.
“The Enterprise is a strong business and represents the very best in community journalism,” said Zaitz. “With no successor in sight, it’s time for us to step back from decades of journalism to a slower pace with a renewed focused on family and friends.”
The decision was hard, the couple said, but inevitable. Large newspaper groups no longer buy such independent newspapers, and the pool has shrunk of people who want to, as owners, both run a business and a news organization.
I’ve been a subscriber for a few years and they do indeed conduct some of the best independent journalism in the American West.
The plight of local, independent journalism continues to break my heart…and the foundation of our democracy.
Long live the free press.