Salem-based Country Media will close the Cottage Grove Sentinel after a Wednesday, Oct. 28 edition, ending 137 years of weekly publication in the Lane County city.

The company announced the closure in the Sentinel's Oct. 21 edition, citing a sharp decline in revenue, OPB reported. Ownership had considered shutting down the paper since April but wanted to make a final push to increase advertising before pulling the plug.

Country Media chief executive Joe Warren said in the announcement that the firm would continue publishing its other papers, according to the Lincoln Chronicle. Country Media did not return requests for comment from KLCC, the public radio station whose reporter first covered the closure for OPB.

The Sentinel was first published in 1889 and has had several owners since 1990. Country Media bought it in September 2023 along with the Newport News-Times and the Siuslaw News in Florence, acquiring all three from News Media Corporation.

It is not an isolated closure. The Salem company, headquartered at 388 State St., has shut down several papers in recent years. Country Media closed the Columbia County Chronicle & Chief in September 2024, citing declining revenue and difficulty hiring staff. In 2025, it closed the Del Norte Triplicate in Crescent City, Calif., though another publisher, Dan Schmidt, later bought and relaunched that paper. In February, Country Media discontinued the North Coast Citizen in Manzanita. It ended the Cannon Beach Gazette around the same time.

How many papers Country Media will operate after the Sentinel folds is unclear. OPB reported the company owns seven other Oregon newspapers, most covering coastal communities. The Lincoln Chronicle put the number at six. The company's own website lists eight publication names, though at least one appears to share the Sentinel's web address. Remaining titles include the World in Coos Bay, the Tillamook Headlight Herald, the Curry Pilot in Brookings, the Lincoln County Leader in Newport, the Siuslaw News in Florence and the Polk County Itemizer-Observer in Dallas.

The Itemizer-Observer, which covers Polk County just west of Salem, is the Country Media paper closest to the mid-Willamette Valley. Country Media acquired it in October 2023.