page_title: Journalism in Oregon
section_title: Newspapers
hierarchical_section_title: Journalism in Oregon / Newspapers
caption_attribution_description: English: Chart of number of newspapers in Oregon as a percentage of population, 1880 through 1930. Based on data in "Growth of Oregon Newspapers" chapter of Turnbull's (1939) History of Oregon Newspapers".
context_page_description: Journalism in the U.S. state of Oregon had its origins from the American settlers of the Oregon Country in the 1840s. This was decades after explorers like Robert Gray and Lewis and Clark first arrived in the region, several months before the first newspaper was issued in neighboring California, and several years before the United States formally asserted control of the region by establishing the Oregon Territory.
  According to historian Johan B. Horner, early pioneers craved newspapers from the east coast, which delivered news of loved ones back home as well as national news, but which arrived as infrequently as twice a year. Horner stated that in the absence of printed material, the community-based art of song drove early Oregon knowledge sharing and patriotism, and drove an intense interest in local newspapers when they did begin to emerge.
context_section_description: George Stanley Turnbull, professor of journalism at the University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication, published his History of Oregon Newspapers in 1939. The book has been described as the most authoritative overview of the field, as recently as 1993.
  The first printing press in the region, a small Ramage press gifted by a native church in the Sandwich Islands, came to the Waiilatpu mission in Walla Walla in 1839. That press was never used to print newspapers; but in 1844, a group formed in Oregon City with the purpose of establishing a newspaper. The Oregon Printing Association formally declared that the press they acquired was never to be used as a vehicle for partisan politics. (Frances Fuller Victor speculated that the non-partisan rule reflected misgivings about missionary influence among early American Oregon pioneers.) The group secured a press from New York, and produced the first newspaper in the western United States, the Oregon Spectator, in 1846. After going through three editors in the first few months, the Spectator hired George Law Curry as editor. Curry remained in the post until 1848, when he resigned due to a dispute with the Association over his wish to adopt a "firm and consistent American tone." The Oregon Territory was formally established in August 1848, with Oregon City—the home of the Spectator—serving as its seat of government for the first three years. The Spectator continued, with changes in ownership, focus, and political focus (becoming a Whig mouthpiece in its later years) until 1855.
  In 1845, the U.S. Postal Service made the first effort to establish mail communication with Oregon.
  Other early Oregon papers included the short-lived Free Press, founded by Curry upon his departure from the Spectator, with type purchased from Catholic missionaries and an improvised press; the Western Star, later renamed the Oregon Weekly Times, founded in Milwaukie in 1850 and moving to Portland in 1851. The Weekly Oregonian was the fifth paper in Oregon, and the oldest one still extant. It launched in Portland on December 4, 1850. Its press was purchased in 1852 and used to found the Columbian, the first paper north of the Columbia River. The Statesman was founded in Salem in 1851, in response to the Whig-oriented Oregonian.
  The first daily paper was Portland's Daily News, begun by S. A. English and W. B. Taylor, April 18, 1859. The "first real Republican paper" on the west coast was the Oregon City Argus, founded in 1855 and merged into the Statesman in 1863. A number of pro-Southern newspapers in Oregon were suppressed by the federal government in 1862. In the 1860s, telegraph service came to Oregon, initially connecting Portland and other Willamette Valley cities to northern California.
  Even as late as 1872, according to Oregon news historian George S. Turnbull, there was a shortage of local news published in what he terms the "pioneer papers," as compared with his present day (1939). Turnbull identified three reasons: the relative scarcity of important happenings as compared with today;  the fact that the demand was still much heavier for the news from "outside" than for the home news; the earlier reporters had not yet built up the technique of effective reporting. Around the turn of the century, the average lifespan of a newspaper was less than a decade.
  In the teens, Oregon (along with Washington) banned liquor advertising, prompting at least some out-of-state newspapers to cancel subscriptions in the state. During the Great Depression, when the cost of newsprint was high, the number of newspapers in the state dropped from 278 (1930) to 125 (1940).
  The Oregon Journal was established in 1902, and rivaled the Oregonian in statewide coverage throughout much of its existence. It took positions on a number of policy issues, and was generally considered a Democratic newspaper. The Journal acquired radio stations in the 1930s and '40s, and in 1947 it became the first paper in the country to purchase its own news helicopter. The Journal's circulation peaked the next year.
  The Oregonian vacated t
caption: The number of newspapers in Oregon as a percentage of the population spiked around 1900. Turnbull, who compiled the data, attributed this to "a decade of opening up the country, establishing towns and cities, a decade of land and timber notices," and observed that, from 1900 up to the date of his writing (1939), a shrinking number of newspapers provided greater circulation numbers overall.
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