Stop The Presses, Literally — The Eugene Weekly Falls Victim to Financial Crime

Good journalism is a dying breed these days and printed newspapers are becoming a thing of the past. Here in Eugene, only a few outlets still print and, unfortunately, the community just lost another source of trustworthy news when the Eugene Weekly announced they had “stopped the presses.”

On Thursday, December 28—for the first time in 20 years—the EW boxes in Lane County were empty and the website’s headline read Where’s the Damn Paper?

The EW has been around since 1982. Originally, it began as a calendar of local events and over time grew into the free weekly journal that many rely on today. 

Over the course of their history the EW has published investigative pieces, the Best of Eugene, obituaries for the unhoused, and best of all, coverage of the local art scene. It’s a local publication in a dying genre.

Just before Christmas, the EW discovered that they had been the victim of embezzlement and, as a result, were forced to lay off their entire staff. 

Embezzlement can be a difficult thing to go through, especially for a free local newspaper which relies a lot on ad revenue. 

According to the EW’s editorial, they had discovered that the theft had occurred over the course of a few years and, now, the paper’s printer has demanded payment up front for continued service. Lacking the funds to pay for those recurring liabilities, the EW shuttered its doors.

Now, the office is closed but much of the staff has volunteered to stay on without pay and continue to publish content online.

Editor Camilla Mortensen said on Facebook that the ordeal has been ”devastating”.

“Writing about what’s happened to Eugene Weekly tore my heart. This paper is a part of me. Being a journalist is a part of me,” Mortensen wrote.

According to the Washington Post, the EW noticed “inaccuracies in its bookkeeping” and discovered that a “former employee who was “heavily involved” with the paper’s finances had used its bank account to pay themselves $90,000 since at least 2022.”

Mortensen told KEZI-9 that they “are massively in debt” with “creditors all over town” they didn’t previously know about. 

The employee responsible has been fired and an investigation into the theft is ongoing. The Eugene Police Department was called in to investigate the fraud along with forensic accountants to analyze the full scope of the damage. 

The decision to lay off the staff just days before Christmas weighed heavily on Mortensen though. “To lay off a whole family’s income three days before Christmas is the absolute worst. It was not on my radar that anything like this could have happened or was happening,” said Mortensen to The Post.

It’s not clear at this time if the paper will be able to resume normal operations and, so far, the paper’s original co-founder and co-owner Anita Johnson, and co-owner Georga Taylor have remained silent regarding the current lack of issues.

Earlier in 2023, Johnson was inducted into the University of Oregon’s Hall of Achievement for journalism and communications in Oct. Her biography on the website summarizes her lifetime, notably as a wife and mother, but first and foremost, as a journalist. 

It’s her legacy and Eugene’s story that’s wrapped up in the paper’s history. Stories Johnson, Mortensen, and many, many others were a part of. Stories they wrote, edited, and published giving space and voice to alternate viewpoints, rhythms, and happenings.

“Many changes have transformed the weekly, including a name change from What’s Happening to Eugene Weekly. Johnson has described the paper as a mixture of alternative and standard journalism. She also believes democracy cannot survive without a free press and has supported the weekly’s efforts to fill a void in the community for investigative journalism. When her husband died several years ago, he requested that she keep the Eugene Weekly alive because of its importance to Eugene.”

In the wake of the loss, the community is trying to save the paper. At the same time, on social media, many have called for increased transparency and accountability asking whether or not the business had internal controls in place to prevent and reduce this real risk of loss?

For now, a GoFundMe has been started to help the business remain afloat given the circumstances. As of writing the effort has raised more than $28,000 dollars towards its $188,000 goal. Old Nick’s Pub is also organizing a benefit for the EW scheduled for Jan. 12 with plans to include a community-driven auction with proceeds that will be donated to the news outlet.

DSM will update this with a follow up article if and when our in-depth questions regarding both the EW’s financial and hiring practices are answered.