Writer’s Notebook: We will emerge from this struggle

Published 12:30 am Tuesday, March 31, 2020

Merle Chessman ran this newspaper during tumultuous times.

As publisher of the Astorian-Budget, Chessman saw our newspaper through the Astoria fire of 1922. He managed the paper’s survival during the Great Depression. And he did battle with the Ku Klux Klan.

Years ago, Liisa Penner and John Goodenberger helped me locate the home that Chessman and his family occupied. It is on the north side of Grand Avenue, across from and several houses east of the First Presbyterian Church.

I occasionally drive past the Chessman home. On that route last Wednesday, I looked in its direction and said: “Well, Merle, you wouldn’t believe what’s going on.”

By the time I reached the stop sign at 11th Street, I reconsidered my blithe comment. “Well, maybe you would NOT be surprised at how the coronavirus has changed our world.”

Global and local events turned Astoria upside down many times during Merle’s life.

My experience corollary to Merle’s was the Great Coastal Gale of 2007. Without power for five days, we managed to publish newspapers and keep our website current. I remember emerging from the semidarkness of our building to seek a cup of coffee. Walking down the street, I realized that I was stiff as a board from tensions of the moment.

The big storm passed us in a week. The great unknown of this pandemic is how long it will last. That prompts a different sort of tension.

Business challenges such as what our publishing company now faces are solved through intellectual rigor. But there is also an emotional side to decision-making at a time like this.

Fear is in the air. That is unhealthy, and it clouds judgment. I appreciate how Kari Borgen, The Astorian’s publisher, is leading the newspaper. “If we lean into this, we’ll come out the other side in good position,” she says.

For most family businesses, this is an existential crisis — challenging our very existence and promising to change the way things are done in the months and years ahead.

A new generation of family owners is going through the coronavirus moment. During the Great Coastal Gale, my children were teenagers. Now they are in their 30s and sit on our board of directors. The pandemic’s challenge will forever shape their perspective on leading during a crisis.

Our company, EO Media Group, and its subsidiary, Central Oregon Media Group, are coping with diminished revenue streams and changing workplace norms. We are grateful that we were already deeply into digital publishing. During this period, more of our readers are consuming our news reports digitally.

The fortunes of Astoria’s newspapers — D.C. Ireland’s Astorian, the Tri-Weekly Astorian, The Daily Astorian, The Astoria Evening Budget and their successors — have been intrinsically bound to the fortunes of our city. This newspaper and its predecessors have tracked all of the town’s ups and downs over 147 years.

Astoria and The Astorian are in a difficult struggle. We will emerge from it, ready for a new era.