End of an Era: Malheur Enterprise to close after a century of reporting

MALHEUR COUNTY, Ore. (KTVZ) - An Eastern Oregon newspaper is shutting down after more than a hundred years.

The Malheur Enterprise in Malheur County is known for its in-depth investigative reporting.

Les Zaitz, a former investigative reporter with The Oregonian, has owned and operated the paper for the past ten years. He says he's now ready to retire.

"The presumption in rural areas is that no one's paying attention that way is interested, and that's absolutely not true. We found a readership intently interested in our monitoring of county government, city government, of how people were spending taxpayer money," said Zaitz.

The paper has won a flurry of national awards.

Zaitz attributes its success to its investigative reporting. He says he looked for someone to buy the paper, but he could not find a good candidate to take it over.

The paper will close at the end of this month.