Death came to the Oregonian on June 20

The death of The Oregonian as you know it came at 9:58 am on June 20.

That’s when reporters, editors, photographers and designers who put out the 163-year-old daily newspaper were told to “please proceed” to a large basement conference room.

Such meetings at the newspaper—especially on short notice—are unusual at The Oregonian’s headquarters at 1320 SW Broadway. But the staff knew what it was about.

For months, there had been speculation The Oregonian’s owners, the Newhouse family, intended to cut back the publication schedule of the newspaper, rely more on its website to deliver news, and make deep cuts in staff.

The Newhouses, who own 34 newspapers through their holding company, Advance Publications, had made this same move at eight of their other papers, including The Times-Picayune in New Orleans. The company’s digital division chairman, Steve Newhouse, had signaled this was the new strategy for the entire company.

Some inside the newsroom thought The Oregonian would get a reprieve. After all, the newspaper is making a profit, and Advance’s handling of the situation in New Orleans has been considered a fiasco. Maybe the Newhouses would see Portland was different.

Publisher N. Christian Anderson III quickly dispelled this notion.

Anderson told his staff The Oregonian would deliver papers to subscribers on Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. On the remaining days, the paper would publish only a street edition, saving millions of dollars in printing costs.

Anderson also announced layoffs. By the time he and Editor Peter Bhatia were done, sources say, almost 100 of the paper’s 650 employees had lost their jobs. The cuts fell disproportionately on the newsroom: As many as 49 reporters, editors, designers and photographers—nearly a quarter of the remaining news staff—will be gone by Sept. 27.

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Also see music writer Ryan White farewell message online. “Yesterday, a lot of good, talented people—friends—were laid off, an act I always suspected wasn’t as gentle as it sounded,” he wrote. “I was right.”