By Justin Andress The Mountain Times
In early 2023, Publisher Matt Nelson raised some local eyebrows when he purchased the beloved Mountain Times. Over the next two years, however, Nelson has worked alongside the community to build a stronger, more informed local paper.
Though his first job was as a newspaper delivery boy around age 10, Nelson never aspired to own his own paper. Far from it. “However, because of the nature of the publishing business that I’m in, I’m always looking for opportunities. I was looking for Oregon-based magazine companies for sale, and in early 2023, The Mountain Times popped up on my radar. I started reading it and I thought, ‘This is actually something that is really interesting.’”
The passion behind each issue and the paper’s dedication to its readers were inspiring. Nelson quickly found himself buying the paper. “I thought, ‘We do stories in our magazines — how different could a newspaper be?’ I was ready to try something new, something with a distinct flavor compared to our community magazines.”
With that, he was off to the races. “I jumped in with both feet, really not fully understanding the scope of what I was about to do. But I think that we had enough of the right intentions of where we wanted to take it, and so far, based on the feedback that we have received from the community, I think we are going in the right direction.”
For Nelson, it was about balancing the legacy of the paper while pushing to modernize its presentation. “I respected exactly where all the previous owners had gotten the paper to before. To have a newspaper with so many advertisers and so many local stories, still publishing strongly deep into the 2020s, was quite impressive. Especially when you frequently hear about other local communities’ newspapers shutting down. But there are pockets of local communities where hyper-local news still thrives, and that is what I saw in The Mountain Times.”
While Nelson was a fan of the paper’s quality, however, he didn’t hesitate to put his fingerprint on The Mountain Times. He started printing the entire paper in full color. He converted the monthly calendar into a two-page spread found in the center of every edition. He expanded the paper from 28 pages to 36 pages. He established The Mountain Times Podcast and redesigned The Mountain Times website to improve accessibility to readers – all while making sure the mountain community remained the focus of every paper.
“I’m really, really adamant about keeping the paper community-focused. I’m not going to print any international news or national news in our newspaper unless it directly affects the local community or has some sort of local tie to someone who lives up here.”
That promise is evident in the paper’s monthly content. In the last two years, The Mountain Times has increased its coverage of local events, civic meetings, local business features and human-interest stories. The paper works to maintain close-knit ties with its community to ensure that they’re seeing the news that’s most important to them.
Producing a paper with which the community connects keeps Nelson deeply committed to The Mountain Times. “One of the things I love most about owning the paper is that many of our readers don’t know who I am — and that’s just the way I like it. I don’t need to be recognized. I enjoy walking into local shops or restaurants and spotting the stack of papers by the door, or seeing someone sitting at a table, completely absorbed in an article. It happens all the time — whether it’s a local or a visitor, nine times out of ten, someone’s got the paper in hand. I never say anything — I just smile. I like seeing people enjoy something our whole team works so hard to create each month. It’s a quiet reminder that our work matters, and that it’s reaching the people it’s meant for.”
There’s a bright road ahead for the team at The Mountain Times. As Nelson and his staff continue to innovate and expand the paper’s reach, so, too, do they honor the legacy established by this mountain icon. Over the coming months, the Times will continue to develop their social media presence and introduce new specialty sections, like The Mountain Times’ Women in Business.
At the end of the day, the Times will continue to honor the paper’s print tradition, by producing a high-quality paper that’s available to everyone on the mountain. It’s a labor of love built on information, community, and connection.