The Pamplin Media Group (PMG) is a media conglomerate owned by Carpenter Media Group and operating primarily in the

Portland metropolitan area The Portland metropolitan area is a metropolitan area, metro area with its urban area, core in the U.S. states of Oregon and Washington (state), Washington. It has 5 principal cities, the largest being Portland, Oregon. The U.S. Office of Man ...

in the U.S. state of

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

. Robert B. Pamplin, Jr. founded the company in 2001 and sold it to Carpenter in 2024. As of 2019, the company owns 25

newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as poli ...

s and employs 200 people. Each chain writes and edits its own stories and shares them with each other and several subscribers, including newspapers in Medford, Corvallis, and Albany.

History

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. The company also acquired the '' Sellwood Bee'' around that time in a separate sale. The papers were to be managed by Oregon Publications Corp., a subsidy of R.B. Pamplin Corp. The business' name was later changed to Pamplin Media Group. In November 2000, the company bought four titles from

Lee Enterprises Lee Enterprises, Inc. is a publicly traded American media company. It publishes 72 daily newspapers in 25 states, and more than 350 weekly, classified, and specialty publications. Lee Enterprises was founded in 1890 by Alfred Wilson Lee and is b ...

. The sale included '' The Gresham Outlook,'' the '' Sandy Post'' and two monthly publications: ''The East County News'' and ''Lifestyles Northwest''. In February 2001, Pamplin founded the ''

Portland Tribune The ''Portland Tribune'' is a weekly newspaper published every Wednesday in Portland, Oregon, United States. It is part of the Pamplin Media Group, which publishes a number of community newspapers in the Portland metropolitan area. Launched i ...

,'' which would serve as the media group's flagship title. In February 2005, Pamplin purchased the monthly newspaper ''King City Regal Courier'' from the Hieb family. In September 2012, the company launched the '' Hillsboro Tribune''. On January 8, 2013, Pamplin bought five newspapers from Eagle Newspapers, Inc. in the Portland area (''

Canby Herald ''The Herald-Pioneer'' is a weekly newspaper published in Canby, Oregon, United States. It dates back to 1906 and is owned by Pamplin Media Group. The paper also serves the cities of Aurora and Molalla. ''The Herald-Pioneer'' was formed in 202 ...

'', '' Wilsonville Spokesman'', '' Molalla Pioneer'', '' The Newberg Graphic'', and the '' Woodburn Independent''), along with '' The Madras Pioneer'' in

Central Oregon Central Oregon is a geographic region in the U.S. state of Oregon and is traditionally considered to be made up of Deschutes, Jefferson, and Crook counties. Other definitions include larger areas, often encompassing areas to the north towards t ...

. In June 2013, it also purchased the '' Central Oregonian'' from Eagle along with its printing facility in Prineville. In 2014, Pamplin partnered with the EO Media Group, which publishes the ''

East Oregonian The ''East Oregonian'' is a weekly newspaper published in Pendleton, Oregon, United States and covering Umatilla and Morrow counties. ''EO'' is owned by EO Media Group and is the newspaper of record for Umatilla County. History M.P. Bull f ...

'' 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. That same year Pamplin launched the ''Business Tribune,'' a business newspaper published as an insert section in the ''

''. 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. Also in 2018, Pamplin completed a $1 million expansion on its Gresham press plant. In August 2019, the '' Hillsboro Tribune'' was merged into the ''Forest Grove News-Times.'' In January 2020, the ''Canby Herald'' and ''Molalla Pioneer'' were merged to form '' The Herald-Pioneer''.' 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. In July 2022, Pamplin announced it would no longer host a

comments section The comments section is a feature on most online blogs, news websites, and other websites in which the publishers invite the audience to comment on the published content. This is a continuation of the older practice of publishing letters to the e ...

on the articles published to its websites. In April 2023, Pamplin launched YourOregonNews.com, which aggregates stories from all of its newspapers. That same year in June, Pamplin agreed to sell its 39,000-square-foot Milwaukie-area building headquarters to Clackamas County for $11 million. 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. 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 ''The Columbian'' is a daily newspaper serving the Vancouver, Washington, and Clark County, Washington area. It is owned by the Campbell family and is the newspaper of record for Vancouver and Washougal. History Tom Carolan first published t ...

'' plant in Vancouver, Washington. 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. That same month the ''Sherwood Gazette'' ceased publication and the ''Estacada News'' was later shuttered.

Newspapers

References

External links

*{{official website, https://www.pamplinmedia.com/ Mass media in Oregon Companies based in Milwaukie, Oregon Publishing companies based in Oregon 2001 establishments in Oregon Publishing companies established in 2001 Mass media companies established in 2001 American companies established in 2001