The Mail Tribune has shut down leaving us wondering, what is next? As we now live in a digital world, we favor digital media rather than physical news, leaving things such as the Mail Tribune newspaper to become obsolete.
The Mail Tribune had been around for over a hundred years, and for many, it is all they have ever known for getting their daily news. The Mail Tribune was our prior 7-day local newspaper and just recently ceased operations on January 13th, 2023. The Mail Tribune was the last local newspaper still in operation, with Ashland Daily Tidings ceasing operations in 2021.
It is super important for small towns like ours to stay connected with the help of local news, without it we miss out on events and opportunities to connect with our community.
Now that the newspaper has closed, it brings up a lot of questions about who will fill their place? There were multiple reasons that the Mail Tribune had to cease operation; such as funding and staff shortages, but overall the mail tribune was not meeting the needs of the community. It was outdated and just not attracting the revenue that it needed to survive.
We are hoping that in place of it will flourish an even better news outlet. We are looking for a newspaper that can provide what the Mail Tribune failed to.
There are online news sources you can get your local news from such as Ashland News, but there have already been talks of a new Ashland newsprint coming soon. Investors are looking to invest in the Ashland/Medford area. There are plans of giving Ashland its own separate print alongside this new Medford newspaper.
Although it has been said that Ashland will not have their own 7-day print it will still be great to keep physical journalism alive in Ashland.
Keeping print journalism alive is super important to a large community and this plan is in place to do just that. Almost immediately after the tribune went under there was already action happening to start a print in the Ashland/Medford area.
There is still hope for physical newspapers, as there are still people that will fight to keep it alive, and customers to support them. We can only hope that with this new publication, there will be better customer satisfaction and that therefore a steady flow of income that can keep the newspaper up and running for as long as they, please.
We live in an ever-changing world, and physical print may one day be a thing of the past, but that day is not today. There are plenty of people still invested in news outside of the digital world.
Keep an eye out for a new newspaper publication in the area, it’s coming soon!
