Local news of Lincoln County governments, communities and people are important — and that’s why we are expanding

By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews

Wednesday morning, I attended a Lincoln County commission meeting then raced home to be able to testify remotely during an Oregon Senate committee hearing.

Shayla Escudero, our second full-time employee who just started last week and is based in Newport, has already written stories on the tragic loss of a 2-year-old Siletz boy, covered a four-hour Newport city council meeting Monday night and now is chasing stories on federal cuts to farm-to-school programs, a $73 million school bond proposal and the county’s winter shelter program.

Garret Jaros, our Yachats-based reporter, spent Monday on the shores of Yaquina Bay to report on the spectacle that is the annual return of millions of herring, attended a Tuesday evening executive session of a local fire district struggling with finances, sat through a Yachats city council meeting Wednesday, and had two back-to-back meetings Thursday afternoon and evening.

That’s all to bring readers of YachatsNews – to become Lincoln Chronicle next Friday, March 28 – professionally reported, community news that is free and accessible to all.

No one else is doing this work. We rarely see other local reporters at these often small, often poorly attended – but very important – local government meetings.

We believe local news is vitally important and that’s why we go through the effort to bring you what we hope is an ever-changing snapshot of communities, their governments and their people.

The state of local news

A soon-to-be released report from the University of Oregon paints a concerning picture of the media landscape in this state. Here are some of its findings:

• Nearly 20 local news outlets in Oregon have closed or have been merged with other outlets since late 2022. That means that in addition to heavy losses prior to 2022, another 13 percent of Oregon’s newspapers closed since late 2022;
• Three dozen of Oregon’s local newspapers were sold in 2024 to a single out of state company, Carpenter Media. With that sale, nearly 30 percent of Oregon’s newspapers were transferred to out of state ownership in one year. Although the outcome remains to be seen, research in other settings suggests that these sales may further reduce the amount, depth, and diversity of local news in communities around the state.
• Oregon has also continued to lose original local news coverage because, as resources shrink, many outlets pull back on public affairs reporting. A review of news outlets’ websites and interviews with journalists around the state suggests that in even where news outlets remain in business, the actual local news they can produce is thin.

Nationally, social science researchers have found that the rapid decline of local news is a problem for communities, for governments, and for democracy. Overall, research points to a number of ways that robust quality local news and information can improve the lives of communities.

Its absence, on the other hand, weakens communities. The spread of mis- and disinformation and growing political polarization have both been linked to declining public engagement with mainstream journalism.

As Steven Waldman, president and founder of Rebuild Local News, puts it — local news is critical not only for increasing government accountability, but for building community cohesion.

Name change coming March 28

All of this is a reminder that next Friday, March 28, YachatsNews, is changing its name to Lincoln Chronicle to better reflect our current and expanding news coverage.

The change will not affect our coverage of Yachats, Waldport, Seal Rock, Tidewater, south county, natural resources and breaking news. The name change is just a more obvious signal that YachatsNews is not as geographically limited as its name might imply and that with the addition of a second, full-time reporter we will do more to cover more Newport-area and countywide issues as other media pull back.

It’s part of our stated attempt to fulfill our goal “To do more and better.”

Also, by the end of May, we plan to redesign and upgrade our website to handle and better display our increased news content, to improve readability and strengthen the site’s reliability.

Next Friday you will not have to do anything to access the former YachatsNews and the newly named Lincoln Chronicle – our hosting service will re-direct you to the new site www.LincolnChronicle.org.

We hope that this added coverage will encourage more Newport-area readers and businesses to support this endeavor with donations. Our news site is free to all and available 24/7 and our intention as a 501c3 nonprofit is to keep it that way. In return, YachatsNews/Lincoln Chronicle intends to provide readers professionally reported local news on important subjects and issues.

So, if you want to support us financially, you can do that any time. Here are some ways:

• Write a check and drop it into the mail to YachatsNews, P.O Box 284, Yachats, Ore., 97498;
• Use the “Donate” button on the website to become a monthly donor or make a one-time contribution through PayPal;
• Advertise your business or organization on the site. Not only will you gain the additional exposure that 200,000 page views a month can bring, but you will be helping sustain this operation. Here is a link to rates and how to get that process started.

Thank you for reading and for your support.

— Quinton Smith/editor & board chair

To read our “2024 Report to Readers” published March 6, go here