 | |
| Type | Daily newspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Tabloid |
| Owner | Rosebud Media |
| Founder | James M. Sutton |
| Founded | June 17, 1876 |
| Ceased publication | August 1, 2021 |
| Language | English |
| City | Ashland, Oregon |
| Sister newspapers | Mail Tribune |
| OCLC number | 34915030 |
TheAshland Daily Tidings was a daily newspaper serving the city ofAshland,Oregon,United States.[1] It was managed by Edd Rountree, a well-known columnist in the state, from 1960 to 1985. Over the years the paper was owned by local families and companies including Capital Cities/ABC and Lee Enterprises before being purchased by theMedford-basedMail Tribune, which later absorbed theTidings and itself ceased on January 13, 2023.[2]
Around that time the newspaper's old domain name was claimed by a company that posts articles from other sources, slightly changed by artificial intelligence. Lawyers have been unable to trace the origins of the new site.[3]
On June 17, 1876, James M. Sutton founded theAshland Tidings.[4][5] At the time Ashland, Oregon had a population of 500. In his first editorial, Sutton wrote "Believing that there is ample room in southern Oregon for a good independent family newspaper, we have resolved to make our effort to establish such a one."[6]
Sutton's health declined after a few issues. J. M. McCall then managed the paper followed by Capt. O. C. Applegate becoming publisher in 1878. A year later William Leeds and Corliss Merritt purchased the paper.[6] Merritt soon sold out to Leeds and years later he sold his interest to longtime employee Fred D. Wagner in 1894. Wagner installed the paper's firstlinotype machine in 1908.[6]
In March 1911, R. B. Bennett purchased the paper and ran it with his brother. He was aYale University graduate who had worked for two years at the paper as a court reporter and telegraph editor.[7] About nine months later Bennett sold theTidings to Bert R. Greer.[8] He died in 1926 and his widow Lillian Harris Greer owned the paper until her death in 1945. During her tenure the paper was edited and managed by G. M. Green.[9] Graham M. Dean, publisher of theReno Gazette, purchased the paper in 1950.[10] He bought it from Green, trustee for paper's three owners.[11]
Edd Ellsworth Rountree purchased the paper in 1960.[12] Rountree published if for a decade and became known statewide for his popular "Friday Fish Fry" column on politics and current events which appeared on front page with a caricature above noting his opinion.[13] Rountree sold the paper in 1970 to the Democrat-Herald Publishing Co, which published theAlbany Democrat-Herald.[14]Capital Cities purchased the company in 1980,[15] which itself was acquired byThe Walt Disney Company in 1995.[16] Disney sold its Oregon newspapers toLee Enterprises in 1997.[17] Lee sold theDaily Tidings to theDow Jones & Company in 2002.[18] The paper were managed byLocal Media Group, another subsidiary of the international companyNews Corp.[19]
On September 4, 2013,News Corp announced that it would sell Local Media Group to Newcastle Investment Corp., an affiliate ofFortress Investment Group, for $87 million. The newspapers were to be operated byGateHouse Media, a newspaper group owned by Fortress. News Corp CEO and formerWall Street Journal editorRobert James Thomson indicated that the newspapers were "not strategically consistent with the emerging portfolio" of the company.[20] GateHouse in turn filed prepackagedChapter 11 bankruptcy on September 27, 2013, to restructure its debt obligations in order to accommodate the acquisition.[21]
In 2017, theTidings and theMail Tribune were sold by GateHouse to Rosebud Media.[22] On July 15, 2021, the owner of theDaily Tidings announced the paper would be replaced with an Ashland Edition of theMail Tribune starting in August.[23] Two years later theTribune ceased on January 13, 2023.[2] Soon after theTidings'web domain was purchased by scammers who relaunched the website with articles written withGenerative AI and sometimes featuring stolen bylines.[24]
TheTidings was one of three daily newspapers to win the Charles Sprague Award of General Excellence from theOregon Newspaper Publishers Association in 1981.[25] In 2006 theDaily Tidings was awarded the "General Excellence" prize by the ONPA.[26] In 2015, it won five awards including a first place for best educational coverage from the ONPA.[27]