PORTLAND, Oregon. — An Oregon weekly that had to lay off its entire staff after a former employee embezzled its funds will relaunch its print edition next month, its editor said, a move made possible largely by fundraising campaigns and contributions from the community.
The Eugene Weekly will return to newsstands Feb. 8 with about 25,000 copies, about six weeks after embezzlement forced the decades-old publication to suspend its print edition, publisher Camilla Mortensen said Saturday.
“It’s been both terrifying and wonderful,” 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 resurrect an article.”
The alternative weekly, founded in 1982 and distributed free in Eugene, one of Oregon’s largest cities, had to lay off all 10 of its employees just before Christmas. It was around that time that the newspaper became aware of at least $100,000 in unpaid bills and discovered that a former employee who had been involved in the newspaper’s finances had used his bank account to pay himself about $90,000, Mortensen said.
Additionally, several employees, including Mortensen, realized that money from their paychecks that was supposed to go into retirement accounts was never deposited.
The accused employee was fired after the embezzlement came to light.
The news was a devastating blow for a publication that serves as a major source of information in a community that, like many others across the country, is struggling with growing gaps 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.
Eugene’s local news outlets, KEZI and KLCC, were among the first to report on the weekly’s return to its print edition.
Since the layoffs, some former staff members have continued to volunteer their time to help keep the newspaper’s website up and running. Much of the online content published in recent weeks has been the work of journalism students at the University of Oregon, located in Eugene, and freelancers who offered to submit stories for free – “the journalistic equivalent of pro bono.” Mortensen said.
Some former employees had to look for other jobs to make ends meet. But Mortensen hopes to rehire his staff once the newspaper pays its outstanding bills and becomes more financially sustainable.
The newspaper has raised about $150,000 since December, Mortensen said. Most of the money came from an online GoFundMe campaign, but financial support also came from local businesses, artists and readers. The newspaper even received checks from people living as far away as Iowa and New York after media outlets across the country picked up the story.
“People were so interested in helping us that it really gives me hope for journalism at a time when I think a lot of people don’t have hope,” he told the AP. “When we saw how many people contributed and how many people keep offering to help, you can’t stop trying to print the newspaper. You have to try”.
The newspaper intends to continue weekly printing beyond February 8.