By KLCC NEWS
The Highway 58 Herald, an online news outlet that covered Oakridge, Lowell, Pleasant Hill and other Lane County communities along the scenic highway, has shut down.
A post on its website dated Aug. 22 said the decision was made for “financial reasons only.”
“Most people don’t realize that, on an online platform that you’ve got a website you’ve got to maintain, you’ve got a webmaster to pay, you’ve got all of these programs you’ve got to re-up every year,” said co-founder George Custer, an Oakridge businessman. “That’s just some of it.”
The post announcing the closure said it will cease operations on Sept. 15, although it has not published a story since July 28.
The news site began publishing stories by volunteer reporters in January 2021 with Pulitzer Prize winner and Oakridge native Doug Bates serving as its founding editor. A recent University of Oregon graduate, Ellie Graham, has worked for the news site the last year and became editor in March.
Custer said the newspaper was started by citizens who were disquieted by Oakridge government, and he feels that the accountability that came from having a small news outlet in the city has helped correct many of its issues.
“It’s said throughout the industry that when there is no platform for open communication and when there is no watchdog over government, it tends to deteriorate,” he said. “And that’s a concern. I think that, through a lot of our efforts, we’ve got a pretty good city council and mayor out in Oakridge right now.”
The Highway 58 Herald is the second Lane County news outlet to announce its closure in August. The Chronicle, a newspaper covering Springfield, Creswell, Cottage Grove and Pleasant Hill, shut down after being in operation for 117 years.
