Post-merge History
In 1953, Tugman was one of four editors in the country to sign a declaration opposing Senator Joseph McCarthy's questioning of New York Post editor James Wechsler in closed Senate hearings. Eugene S. Pulliam of The Indianapolis Star, J. R. Wiggins, The Washington Post, and Herbert Brucker, of The Hartford Courant were the other editors to sign the declaration, calling Senator McCarthy's actions "a peril to American freedom."
Alton F. "Bunky" Baker, Jr., son of Alton F. Baker, Sr., inherited the newspaper in 1961 and later passed it on to his brother Edwin. In the late 1980s, it was handed down to the current editor and publisher, Alton F. "Tony" Baker III.
In August 1996, a photographer and reporter from the paper were arrested by the United States Forest Service for trespassing at the site of a timber protest in a national forest. The Register-Guard responded by suing the Forest Service for violating the First Amendment freedom of the press. The criminal charged were later dropped and the civil suit was settled out of court.
Originally located in downtown Eugene, the paper moved to its current location in northeast Eugene in January 1998. The former Register-Guard building was leased by the University of Oregon and renamed the Baker Downtown Center for the Baker family. The building houses the university's printing facility, archives, and continuing education program, as well as the Oregon Career Information System.
In 2000, the company began negotiations with the employee’s union for a new contract, and during negotiations banned the use of the company email system by the union. This led to an unfair labor practice charge against the newspaper, with the National Labor Relations Board ruling for the paper in December 2007 that employers can ban employees' pro-union emails from the company email system.
In the weeks following the September 11, 2001 attacks, the newspaper saw a 1.6% increase in paper sales. In 2006, the paper received protests regarding its policy against including birth announcements from same-sex couples. It was reported that managing editor Dave Baker was very helpful when same-sex couples first complained "until he talked to Alton Baker, and then he stopped returning our phone calls." In November 2008, the Register-Guard finally changed its policy and printed a birth announcement featuring names of both the child's female parents.
In 2003, the newspaper reduced the width of the printing to 12.5 inches (320 mm) to reduce costs, and further shrank the paper to 11 inches (280 mm) in 2009.
In 2009, two separate layoffs reduced the newspaper's staff by the equivalent of 41 positions; by August 2009, it had 305 full- and part-time employees. The company's management blamed the layoffs on the "lousy economy" and advertising revenues that were 16% below projections in May and about 25% for June, July, and the first half of August.
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