Charles Fischer Administrator No. 1 Share Posted May 21, 2023 Brutal and true. The Sports section does not cover minor sports at Oregon, meaning ZERO about Oregon Baseball. But they offer some skimpy coverage of high school sports to encourage people to take the paper while their kids are in school. Oregon football covered from Salem, but we get far more news right here on OBD! The political takes/omissions are...massively unbalanced and not objective at all. A great example of where journalism has gone, and it is sad. Eugene Register-Guard languishes under Gannett, nation’s largest newspaper chain WWW.OREGONLIVE.COM Parent company Gannett's massive debt has exacted a toll on local newspapers. 1 1 Mr. FishDuck Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annie No. 2 Share Posted May 21, 2023 So many great writers used to be at the RG. Just in sports we had Ron Bellamy, George Schroeder, Austin Meek, and many, many others. On Sundays (only one day after a Duck Saturday football game!) we could look forward to 4 pages of photos and articles. I started reading the local newspaper in CT, where I grew up, as soon as I could read. Okay, I started with the comic section--but isn't that in part what the comic section is for? To draw in young readers? As skimpy as the RG is now, I still read it. I also read Eugene Weekly. Print versions of both (except Saturday for the RG, when I have to read it online). My home town paper in CT had been published for 100 or so years before it stopped. Yes, I can get home town news online. But it's not the same. And does anyone publish wedding and birth announcements anymore? It's those "small" parts of life that matter as much as the big news. What did Kurt Vonnegut say? “Enjoy the little things in life because one day you`ll look back and realize they were the big things.” 2 1 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DC Featherbutt No. 3 Share Posted May 21, 2023 Longtime listener, first time caller. Charles, I hear you. After graduating from Oregon in 1988 I left Eugene and have never moved back. At the start of my career my mother would mail me RG Sunday sports sections during football season. Living in DC at that time this mailing was my only Duck news. At the advent of the internet (or their abouts) the RG website gave me everything I could hope for: Ducks and Siuslaw HS scores and news. Now I’m retired and live in Las Vegas. I have a lot of couch time to read about what is going on in my favorite part of the country. Unfortunately the RG gives me next to zero info about the things I want to read about. I suppose I would feel differently if I wanted to know about a new inclusive trans show playing at the Hult Center or such. All I want is unbiased news about the local economy, Ducks news, and information about local HS sports. That type of information no longer exists in the RG, at least online. It is sad that a really good paper in a small market can vanish like it has. The Oregonian is not that much better IMO. 1 2 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
1Ducker1 No. 4 Share Posted May 21, 2023 I rely on THIS place for DUCK news now days. Newspapers are in sad shape all over. I remember The Oregonian publishing minor league baseball standings from all the leagues all over the country-- But that's been awhile back. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
woundedknees No. 5 Share Posted May 22, 2023 When I was a kid, there was an outdoor column every week (authored by a local fellow named Andy Maxon, IIRC?) that I and most of my friends tended to follow closely, in addition to anything sports related. It's sad that something which was such an integral part of American life has, in large part, gone the way of the Dodo and the passenger pigeon... Mostly due to human greed and lack of attention to the details that actually matter to most consumers. 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrspenney No. 6 Share Posted May 22, 2023 One of my very good friends who died a few years ago, has a daughter who took a run at buying the Guard, has gone into the newspaper business with a group, would not be a bit surprised if they end up with the Guard and maybe Salem to. They are doing very well with the papers they have acquired recently. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DUCKED No. 7 Share Posted May 22, 2023 On 5/21/2023 at 1:00 PM, Annie said: So many great writers used to be at the RG. Just in sports we had Ron Bellamy, George Schroeder, Austin Meek, and many, many others. On Sundays (only one day after a Duck Saturday football game!) we could look forward to 4 pages of photos and articles. I started reading the local newspaper in CT, where I grew up, as soon as I could read. Okay, I started with the comic section--but isn't that in part what the comic section is for? To draw in young readers? As skimpy as the RG is now, I still read it. I also read Eugene Weekly. Print versions of both (except Saturday for the RG, when I have to read it online). My home town paper in CT had been published for 100 or so years before it stopped. Yes, I can get home town news online. But it's not the same. And does anyone publish wedding and birth announcements anymore? It's those "small" parts of life that matter as much as the big news. What did Kurt Vonnegut say? “Enjoy the little things in life because one day you`ll look back and realize they were the big things.” In addition to the aforementioned, the RG sports section of the early 70’s also featured sports editor Blaine Newnham and Bud Withers, excellent writers who eventually moved on to the Seattle Times. John Conrad was also on that staff and eventually became the section’s editor. The coverage of the Ducks in those was clearly the best in the conference. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lownslowav8r No. 8 Share Posted May 22, 2023 Pretty hard to cover anything well with such a small, inexperienced (cheap) staff. Good journalism is hard and takes skill, experience, staffing, and time. The private equity model of business was clearly a scam whose only "benefit" was to make a handful of people richer while making the rest of us poorer. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
latracey No. 9 Share Posted May 22, 2023 A good local newspaper weaves a community together. The Register-Guard was an absolute jewel; long time employees who were master craftsmen and truly gifted writers with their fingers on the pulse of what made Eugene special and unique. We are all at a loss now when it comes to getting local news. None of the local news sources are great and The Register-Guard is a complete waste of time. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisjenn99 No. 10 Share Posted May 22, 2023 I used to get all my Duck News from The Register Guard back in the Day. Schroeder left for USA Today, Adam Jude left to be the Husky Beat Writer, & Rob Moseley went to work directly for The Ducks. That was pretty much it for me. Then they started putting up Paywalls. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annie No. 11 Share Posted May 22, 2023 On 5/21/2023 at 6:30 PM, DUCKED said: In addition to the aforementioned, the RG sports section of the early 70’s also featured sports editor Blaine Newnham and Bud Withers, excellent writers who eventually moved on to the Seattle Times. John Conrad was also on that staff and eventually became the section’s editor. The coverage of the Ducks in those was clearly the best in the conference. Ah, yes, those three were also great writers. I do have to say, though, that Newnham always bugged me with what I felt was his attitude about the huskies being superior. So I found it satisfying that when he moved to Seattle was also when the Ducks started beating uw. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Massduck No. 12 Share Posted May 22, 2023 Nice post and welcome featherbutt. Like you, I moved out east, and relied on my parents to send me the Sunday sports section. In addition, when I was a kid, I used to race to the mailbox to beat my dad to the sports section before he got home from work as the guard used to be an afternoon paper delivery, believe it or not. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DUCKED No. 13 Share Posted May 23, 2023 On 5/22/2023 at 5:04 AM, Annie said: Ah, yes, those three were also great writers. I do have to say, though, that Newnham always bugged me with what I felt was his attitude about the huskies being superior. So I found it satisfying that when he moved to Seattle was also when the Ducks started beating uw. Surprised to hear that about Blaine and the Huskies. He is a Cal grad and has always been a staunch supporter of the Golden Bears, or at least was when they were decent….many years ago. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TexasDuck No. 14 Share Posted May 24, 2023 I have a friend who worked at a large paper for over 20 years. Same ownership family for over 100 years. He remembers well the day at a staff meeting when they first heard about what later became Craigslist. They were told it could potentially cut their ad revenue by up to 90%. He and his colleagues were skeptical. Within five years it was severance package time. We lost a lot when we lost our papers. They are a shell of themselves if they exist at all. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duckdude No. 15 Share Posted May 27, 2023 Very sad to see. Still read the ERG, BUT…..IT’s not the same. Love Ken Woody’s articles! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
