The Eugene Weekly, a local newspaper in Oregon, halted the publication's printing three days before Christmas after one of its employees allegedly embezzled tens of thousands of dollars.
The local newspaper has been circulating since 1982. The publication prints 30,000 copies weekly to distribute for free in Eugene, the second-largest city in the state and home to the University of Oregon.
The Eugene Weekly Halts Publication
The Eugene Weekly's editor-in-chief, Camilla Mortenson, informed readers in a letter that the publication's current financial difficulties forced it to discontinue printing immediately.
Mortenson told The New York Times that the employee suspected of spearheading the embezzlement plan had removed funds from retirement accounts designated for staff members and left the newspaper's printer with bills of up to $70,000 since 2022.
"We're heartbroken to have to tell you that this independent voice is in danger of falling silent," the letter read. "There will be no print paper edition of EW, for the first time in more than 20 years."
She said laying off a whole family's income three days before Christmas was the worst. She expressed her sense of devastation and claimed she did not expect anything like this to happen.
A spokesperson with the Eugene Police Department told The Independent that their department had received a theft report about an incident at 1251 Lincoln, the paper's address, on December 19.
The spokesperson said via email that the case was under investigation and they could not release further details immediately. The paper's owners also hired forensic accountants to investigate the incident.
However, Mortenson told The New York Times that the person accused of embezzling the money, who had not been publicly identified, had worked at the publication for the past five years.
The editor-in-chief claimed that higher-ups became aware of the paper's financial difficulties during closing records for the year. The managing team could not speak to the accused employee because he was out of the office.
Mortenson said that every time she finds something out, she gets sick to her stomach. She noted that the accused employee was someone they worked with who came to the office daily.
Brent Walth, a journalism professor at the University of Oregon, said he was concerned about losing the paper, which had an outsized impact in filling the widening gaps in news coverage in Eugene.
He described the newspaper as an impartial watchdog and a kind voice for the community, pointing to its obituaries of homeless individuals as an example of how the paper assisted in giving a human face to some of the city's most pressing problems.
The Eugene Weekly's Financial Loss
Mortenson shared that the publication struggled to recover from its financial setbacks during the pandemic. She also mentioned that the paper's owners had always put earnings back into the business, utilizing the profits to pay employee benefits and bonuses.
According to Mortenson, she and other editorial staff members have offered to post articles online while print operations have been suspended.
The owners, former Washington Post reporter Anita Johnson and Georgia Taylor paid for the last print edition of The Eugene Weekly on December 21.
Furthermore, the paper has been receiving donations. Mortenson hoped that the paper could eventually resume printing.
