Local newspaper blindsided by thievery that puts brakes on print issues.

“Where’s the D*** Paper?” was the striking headline that rocked the local news landscape on Dec. 28, 2023. For the first time in more than 20 years, the Eugene Weekly was not printing a hard copy paper. Sometime in the middle of December employees noticed that the newspaper was struggling financially. At first, it appeared that the pandemic had finally caught up to the EW, however it turned out that an employee was embezzling “tens of thousands of dollars,” according to Bob Keefer, longtime arts editor at the Weekly.

“It was a surprise and a disappointment,” Keefer said. “It was someone we had worked with for a long time.”

Upon investigation, it became clear that more than $100,000 was owed out to different people, including more than $70,000 to the printer of the paper.

On Dec. 21, a decision was quickly made to lay off all EW employees, and, as Keefer put it, “take a break from publishing and printing, because we couldn’t afford to do it.” 

However, this didn’t stop the Weekly from putting out content online. Former Weekly staffers, along with other community members who have journalism career backgrounds, have volunteered their time to continue to publish stories online.

Keefer pointed out that the Weekly is unique in how it makes its money, in that almost all of the money made by the paper is through print advertising. 

“We have a substantial base of advertisers who pay for our operations,” Keefer said. “So, when we weren’t making money, we thought that the end was near; but what was doing us in, was the thief.”

According to Keefer, this scenario of an employee embezzling money isn’t rare. 

“This kind of embezzlement is common, and it’s often not reported,” Keefer explained. “We’ve heard from a bunch of businesses and nonprofits in town, ‘We lost $60,000, but we didn’t want to say anything about it because we didn’t want our donors to go away.’ We went the other way; as soon as we had enough information to say something, we went public with it.” 

This strategy of going public may have benefited the Weekly in the long run. The story was picked up on the national news, appearing in articles in the New York Times and the Washington Post. 

These stories created exposure, which led to donations flooding in from all across the world. 

Back at home, community support has been immense. 

“The first people that came to the door were an older couple, and they handed us a $1,000 check,” Keefer said. “And just a few minutes later, a guy walks up with a big box of Voodoo Doughnuts and a bottle of gin.” 

The community support helped keep morale up in the office, according to Keefer.

According to The New York Times, the Weekly will return to print on Feb. 8, as it has raised enough money through donations.

Article by Elliott Hunt