Portland Reporter

Front page from March 6, 1963
TypeNewspaper
FormatTabloid
Owner(s)Portland Reporting Publishing Company
PublisherMichael Frey
FoundedFebruary 11, 1960 (1960-02-11)
Ceased publicationOctober 1, 1964 (1964-10-01)
CityPortland, Oregon
CountryU. S. A.
Circulation78,000 (as of March 8, 1963)[1]

The Portland Reporter was a newspaper published in Portland, Oregon, United States in the early 1960s. It was founded by unions, which were calling on Portlanders to cancel their subscriptions to the city's two existing daily newspapers, as a weekly paper.[2] Within a year, with support from various local and national unions, it had begun daily publication.[2][3] It ceased publication upon the conclusion of the strike.[1][4]

It was reported to be the first daily newspaper established in a major metropolitan area of the U.S. Pacific Northwest in at least 50 years.[5]

Origin in newspaper labor dispute

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In 1948 the Oregonian vacated the Oregonian Building, its home of more than 50 years, and put itself in financial distress in the construction of its new building; this resulted in the sale of the newspaper to S. I. Newhouse in 1950.[6]

What was to become heated four-year strike began against both The Oregonian and The Oregon Journal began in November 1959.[7] The strike was called by Stereotypers Local 49 over various contract issues, particularly the introduction of more automated plate-casting machinery;[8] the new-to-American-publishing German-made equipment required one operator instead of the four that operated the existing equipment.[7] Wallace Turner and other writers and photographers refused to cross the picket lines and never returned.[9]

Impact

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The competition and the labor shortage made publication difficult, but not impossible, for the older papers. The Oregonian and the Journal published a "joint, typo-marred paper" for six months until they had hired enough nonunion help to resume separate operations.[8] Newhouse bought the Oregon Journal in 1961.[10][11] Production and business operations of the two newspapers were consolidated in The Oregonian's building, while their editorial staffs remained separate.[12] The Journal continued as a separate publication (though its Sunday edition ceased) until 1982, when Newhouse merged it with the Oregonian.[13]

The Reporter's circulation peaked at 78,000. The National Labor Relations Board ruled the strike illegal in November 1963.[14] Strikers continued to picket until April 4, 1965,[9] at which point the Oregonian and the Journal became open shops. The Reporter shut down in October 1964.[15]

References

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  1. ^ a b "The Portland Reporter". Oregon Encyclopedia.
  2. ^ a b Klare, Gene (Spring 1963). "Portland: a strike paper that lasts and lasts" . Columbia Journalism Review. pp. 37–40.
  3. ^ "Strike-Born Portland Paper Dying". Deseret News. February 27, 1964. p. 8.
  4. ^ Babb, Doug (June 21, 2010). "1959-1965: Portland's Newspaper Strike". CFM Strategic Communications Public Affairs Blog. Retrieved 2018-08-23.
  5. ^ McClelland, John Morris Jr. (1961-02-18). "News and Views". Longview Daily News. p. 1. Retrieved 2021-11-16.
  6. ^ MacColl, E. Kimbark (1979). The Growth of a City: Power and Politics in Portland, Oregon 1915–1950. Portland, Oregon: The Georgian Press. ISBN 0-9603408-1-5.
  7. ^ a b Klare, Gene (November 1, 2002). "Let me say this about that". Northwest Labor Press. Archived from the original on 2003-09-06. Retrieved 2010-09-13.
  8. ^ a b "The Press: Portland: How Good Is a Strike?". Time. March 8, 1963. Archived from the original on February 4, 2013. Retrieved 2010-09-13.
  9. ^ a b Babb, Doug (June 21, 2010). "1959–1965: Portland's Newspaper Strike". Conkling Fiskum & McCormick. Retrieved 2010-09-13. [dead link‍]
  10. ^ "Newhouse Buys Another Publication, Now Owns $200 Million Empire". Brooklyn Daily. 1961-09-13. p. 19. Retrieved 2021-11-16.
  11. ^ Butts, Jeannette (January 29, 2017). "Portland's Newspaper Wars | How The Oregonian became a Monopoly". Public History PDX. Retrieved August 16, 2021.
  12. ^ Notson, Robert C. "Making the Day Begin". Oregonian Publishing Company, 1976, p.51.
  13. ^ Mesh, Aaron (November 4, 2014). "Sept. 4, 1982: The Oregon Journal shuts down…". Willamette Week. Retrieved 2018-08-23.
  14. ^ Heinzkill, Richard (August 1993). "A Brief History of Newspaper Publishing in Oregon". University of Oregon Libraries. Retrieved 2006-11-22.
  15. ^ Diehl, Caleb (November 23, 2015). "The Portland Newspaper Wars of the 1960s". Portland Monthly. Retrieved August 16, 2021.
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