Portland Mercury is an alternative bi-weekly newspaper and media company founded in 2000 in Portland, Oregon . It has a sibling publication in Seattle, Washington , called The Stranger .
8-459: A prior version of The Mercury was published from 1869 and into the 1930s. The current Portland Mercury launched in June 2000. The paper describes their readership as "affluent urbanites in their 20s and 30s." Its long-running rivalry with Willamette Week began before its first issue was even printed when Willamette Week publisher Richard Meeker asked a Portland law firm to pay $ 10 to register
16-495: A restaurant that hadn't yet opened, a bid for mayor, and a cover featuring him wearing women's underwear, dollops of whipped cream, and a hard hat. Shrill , a television series based on Seattle-based writer Lindy West ’s memoir and essay collection of the same name, was inspired by The Stranger and Portland Mercury and starred actress Aidy Bryant . The paper has also published articles and columns written by Chuck Palahniuk and Dan Savage . Portland Mercury' s print edition
24-458: The Mercury name with Oregon's Corporation Division, thus preventing it from being used for 120 days. As of 2020, the newspaper's revenue was almost entirely dependent on advertising and sales of tickets for events and concerts with nearly 95% of its revenue coming from advertisements. Former managing editor Phil Busse's controversial tenure included charges of plagiarism, a favorable review for
32-431: The 20th century, with C. H. Clute and William J. Swope in charge. It was described as a legitimate enterprise, but elsewhere it was described as a "sensational" paper given to "gossips and scandal." In 1899 a Mr. Cummins, described as "head of a respectable family," accused Swope, who was then publisher, editor, and proprietor of the paper of libel and slander, and a warrant was issued for Swope's arrest. Newspapers around
40-481: The newspaper itself was turned over to receiver A. A. Rosenthal. Rosenthal promised to "make a decent paper of it," but the paper was raided by the Portland district attorney's office later that year and suppressed for publishing offensive material. A November 19, 1893 Oregonian editorial praised the actions against a publication "insidiously demoralizing as well as unspeakably offensive." The paper continued into
48-522: The publication's staff. A special newsstand edition, titled 'Say Nice Things About Portland: A Manifesto,' was released in May 2023. It was Portland Mercury' s first print publication since the beginning of the pandemic. In July 2024, the paper, along with the related The Stranger were sold by Index Media to Noisy Creek, a media company founded by Brady Walkinshaw . The Mercury (defunct Oregon newspaper) The Mercury , later The Sunday Mercury ,
56-622: Was a weekly newspaper founded in Salem, Oregon in 1869, and moved to Portland a few years later. Oregon writer Homer Davenport described approaching the Mercury when he arrived in Portland as a young man, and being sent to New Orleans to cover and draw pictures of the Fitzsimmons - Dempsey fight. The Mercury was best known for being the subject of an 1893 libel lawsuit involving attorney and writer C.E.S. Wood . The Oregon Supreme Court ruled against O. P. Mason and B. P. Watson, and
64-454: Was published weekly until fall 2018 when it changed to bi-weekly beginning with the issue released on September 13, 2018. Its name as displayed on the nameplate was shortened to just Mercury as well. On March 14, 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic , the paper temporarily suspended print publication and switched to online only. In addition, it laid off 10 employees, which comprised half of
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