| Pamplin Media Group | |
| Type: | Private |
| Industry: | Media |
| Founded: | 2001 |
| Founder: | Robert B. Pamplin, Jr. |
| Owner: | Carpenter Media Group |
| Num Employees: | 200 |
| Area Served: | Portland metropolitan area |
The Pamplin Media Group (PMG) is a media conglomerate owned by Carpenter Media Group and operating primarily in the Portland metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Oregon. Robert B. Pamplin, Jr. founded the company in 2001 and sold it to Carpenter in 2024.[1] [2] As of 2019, the company owns 25 newspapers and employs 200 people.[3]
Each chain writes and edits its own stories and shares them with each other and several subscribers, including newspapers in Medford, Corvallis, and Albany.[4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10]
Robert B. Pamplin, Jr. purchased Community Newspapers, Inc. in August 2000. The sale included eleven newspapers in the Portland suburbs (Beaverton Valley Times, Forest Grove News-Times, Lake Oswego Review, Tigard Times, Tualatin Times, West Linn Tidings, Our Town, Sherwood Gazette and Southwest Community Connection). The total staff was about 130.[11] The company also acquired the Sellwood Bee around that time in a separate sale.[12] The papers were to be managed by Oregon Publications Corp., a subsidy of R.B. Pamplin Corp.[13] The business' name was later changed to Pamplin Media Group.
In November 2000, the company bought four titles from Lee Enterprises. The sale included The Gresham Outlook, the Sandy Post and two monthly publications: The East County News and Lifestyles Northwest.[14] In February 2001, Pamplin founded the Portland Tribune, which would serve as the media group's flagship title.[15] In February 2005, Pamplin purchased the monthly newspaper King City Regal Courier from the Hieb family.[16] In September 2012, the company launched the Hillsboro Tribune.[17]
On January 8, 2013, Pamplin bought five newspapers from Eagle Newspapers, Inc. in the Portland area (Canby Herald, Wilsonville Spokesman, Molalla Pioneer, The Newberg Graphic, and the Woodburn Independent), along with The Madras Pioneer in Central Oregon.[18] [19] In June 2013, it also purchased the Central Oregonian from Eagle along with its printing facility in Prineville.[20] [21]
In 2014, Pamplin partnered with the EO Media Group, which publishes the East Oregonian and several other weekly and monthly publications in Oregon, to form the Oregon Capital Bureau and publish the Oregon Capital Insider newsletter. The partnership came as the number of reporters assigned to state capital bureaus nationwide was on the decline.[22] That same year Pamplin launched the Business Tribune.[23]
In 2018, the newly-launched Salem Reporter joined the bureau, and its publisher, Les Zaitz, was assigned to lead its three reporters. The Salem Reporter left the cooperative in early 2020 and Zaitz left the operation. The Oregon Capital Bureau as of late winter 2020 includes just the EO Media Group and Pamplin.[24] Also in 2018, Pamplin completed a $1 million expansion on its Gresham press plant.[25]
In August 2019, the Hillsboro Tribune was merged into the Forest Grove News-Times.[26] In January 2020, the Canby Herald and Molalla Pioneer were merged to form The Herald-Pioneer.[27] In March that same year, about 20 newsroom employees were laid off and staff hours were reduced following a loss of revenue stemming from the COVID-19 recession in the United States.[28] In July 2022, Pamplin announced it would no longer host a comments section on the articles published to its websites.[29]
In April 2023, Pamplin launched YourOregonNews.com, which aggregates stories from all of its newspapers.[30] That same year in June, Pamplin agreed to sell its 39,000-square-foot Milwaukie-area building headquarters to Clackamas County for $11 million.[31] In August, the Clackamas Review switched from weekly to monthly publication and was renamed to the Milwaukie Review. The Oregon City News switched to monthly publication as well.[32]
In December 2023, Pamplin announced its Gresham printing plant would close the following month and about two dozen employees would lose their jobs. Pamplin shifted production of its newspapers to The Columbian plant in Vancouver, Washington.[33]
In June 2024, Pamplin was sold to Carpenter Media Group. Six weeks later an unknown number of employees were laid off, including longtime statehouse reporter Peter Wong.[34] That same month the Sherwood Gazette ceased publication[35] and the Estacada News was later shuttered.[36]
| Oregon | Beaverton | Beaverton Valley Times |
| Sellwood (Portland) | The Bee | |
| Canby | Canby Herald | |
| Prineville | Central Oregonian | |
| Clackamas | Clackamas Review | |
| Estacada | Estacada News | |
| Forest Grove | Forest Grove News-Times | |
| Hillsboro | Hillsboro Tribune | |
| King City | King City Regal Courier | |
| Lake Oswego | Lake Oswego Review | |
| Madras | The Madras Pioneer | |
| Molalla | Molalla Pioneer | |
| Newberg | The Newberg Graphic | |
| Oregon City | Oregon City News | |
| Gresham | The Outlook | |
| Portland | Portland Tribune | |
| Sandy | Sandy Post | |
| Scappoose | Columbia County Spotlight | |
| Southwest Portland | Southwest Community Connection | |
| Tigard/Tualatin/Sherwood | The Valley Times (Tigard/Tualatin) | |
| West Linn | West Linn Tidings | |
| Wilsonville | Wilsonville Spokesman | |
| Woodburn | Woodburn Independent | |
| Statewide | Business Tribune |