PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – An Oregon weekly newspaper that was forced to lay off its entire staff after a former employee misappropriated funds plans to resume print edition next month, editors announce. This is primarily a campaign and community contribution made possible by fundraising efforts.
Editor-in-chief Camila Mortensen said Saturday that Eugene Weekly lost about 25,000 copies on Feb. 8, about six weeks after an embezzlement scandal forced the decades-old magazine to suspend print publication. announced that it would return to newsstands with the publication of .
“It's been scary and amazing,” Mortensen told The Associated Press, describing the emotional roller coaster of the past few weeks. “I thought it was difficult to publish a newspaper. It is much more difficult to revive a paper.”
The alternative weekly magazine, which started in 1982 and was distributed for free in Eugene, one of Oregon's largest cities, had to lay off its entire 10-person staff just before Christmas. Mortensen said the paper noticed at least $100,000 in unpaid bills and discovered that a former employee involved in the paper's finances had used a bank account to pay him about $90,000. Mortensen said.
Additionally, multiple employees, including Mortensen, discovered that funds from their paychecks that were supposed to be deposited into their retirement accounts were not deposited.
After the embezzlement was revealed, the accused employee was fired.
The news was a devastating blow to the publication, which, like many other parts of the country, serves as a vital source of information in communities struggling with growing disparities in local news coverage.
The Eugene Police Department's investigation is still ongoing, and forensic accountants hired by the newspaper continue to piece together what happened.
Local Eugene news agencies KEZI and KLCC were the first to report that the weekly magazine would resume printing.
Since the downsizing, some former staff members have continued to volunteer their time to keep the paper's website up and running. Much of the online content published in recent weeks is the work of journalism students at the University of Oregon in Eugene and freelancers who have offered to submit articles for free, calling it the “journalistic equivalent of pro bono.” Mortensen said.
Some former employees have had to look for other jobs to make ends meet. But Mortensen hopes to eventually rehire staff once the paper has paid its outstanding bills and become more financially sustainable.
Mortensen said the paper has raised about $150,000 since December. Most of the funds came from his GoFundMe campaign online, but he also received financial support from local businesses, artists and readers. After national news outlets covered the story, the paper received checks from people as far away as Iowa and New York.
“People have invested so hard in supporting us that it really gives us hope for journalism at a time when I think a lot of people don’t have hope,” she said. told the Associated Press. ”
The newspaper aims to continue publishing weekly after February 8th.
