UO, OPB and Ashland.news leaders to talk about what communities can do about national dismantling of local news

The Ashland.news Events Team

Across the country, once-thriving local newspapers are being hollowed out or shuttered altogether — leaving communities without trusted sources of information. It’s a trend driven not by dwindling interest in news, but by hedge funds and private equity firms who see newspapers not as civic institutions, but as assets to be stripped for maximum profit.

This alarming reality is at the heart of “Stripped for Parts: American Journalism on the Brink,” a documentary by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Rick Goldsmith. The film, which will screen for free in Ashland on Thursday, April 10, doesn’t just reveal the forces dismantling local news — it also highlights the journalists fighting to rebuild it from the ground up.

Following the screening at the Southern Oregon University Recital Hall, a panel of state media leaders will discuss the state of journalism in Oregon and beyond.

The panelists are Regina Lawrence, association dean of the University of Oregon School of Journalism & Communication and research director of the Agora Journalism Center; Ryan Haas, Oregon Public Broadcasting managing editor for news; and Bert Etling, executive editor of Ashland.news. Moderating the discussion will be David Sommers, former publisher of the Rogue Valley Times and chief revenue officer of EO Media Group, who recently joined the Ashland.news board of directors.

For Paul Steinle, president of Ashland.news and former journalism professor, the implications go far beyond the newsroom. “The social and cultural stakes are high after a great number of local news outlets have been sold and purchased by organizations such as the one depicted in this film — organizations that have no concern about the destruction of social dialogue they are destroying with their avarice,” he said.

While Ashland.news has emerged as a community-supported alternative to the corporate collapse of local news, Steinle emphasized that “a community’s support to maintain an honest news source is vital to its civic future.”

Jim Coleman, a former Los Angeles Times journalist and current Ashland.news copy editor, saw firsthand how once-venerable newspapers were gutted for profit. “I was there when the Tribune Company took control of the paper and began a wave of layoffs and buyouts … Alden Global Capital ended up buying many of the Tribune newspapers, largely to sell the associated real estate and to cut staff so that the Alden papers are shadows of their former selves.”

But Coleman doesn’t see the situation as hopeless. “Stripped for Parts,” he says, offers a glimpse of the resilience and ingenuity of those who still believe in the mission of journalism.

That sense of cautious optimism is shared by Ashland.news board member Hillary Larson. “As ‘Stripped for Parts’ so unflinchingly details, the red lights have been flashing on the dashboard of trusted media outlets for over 20 years,” she said. “Equally important is the light this film sheds on the relatively new innovation of nonprofit news — and the hope it offers to ensure reliable journalism as a vital pillar of society, both locally and nationally.”

The collapse of the Ashland Daily Tidings in 2021 and the Medford Mail Tribune in 2023 left Southern Oregon on the brink of becoming a news desert. “Fortunately, our community came together to meet this challenge by forming — and supporting — Ashland.news,” said Lorrie Kaplan, vice president of the organization’s board. “This event is about raising awareness — and showing how we can all play a role in sustaining journalism as a pillar of democracy.”

The free screening and conversation that follows are not just for journalists or media scholars — they’re for anyone who believes that informed communities are stronger communities.

Source: Ashland.news news release. Email Ashland.news at news@ashland.news.