A reality based independent journal of observation & analysis, serving the Flathead Valley & Montana since 2006. © James Conner.
Long live the digital edition. The Eagle’s final stand alone printed edition of 2015 was the Eagle’s final stand alone printed edition. A printed version may return as a wrapper for the Daily InterLake, but for now the Eagle survives as a website.
According to publisher Rick Weaver, the Eagle wasn’t profitable. That doesn’t necessarily mean the Eagle was losing money. It could mean it wasn’t making enough money to justify the effort required to produce a stand alone printed edition.
The printed Eagle’s demise is not surprising. Bigfork is too small to support a traditional weekly, and the Eagle faced competition from the InterLake, Missoulian, Flathead Beacon (an outstanding weekly), and local television stations. Publishing only online makes both more cents and more sense.
My thanks to Pete Talbot at Intelligent Discontent for his post on the Eagle’s predicament. I would have missed it otherwise. And my best wishes to former Eagle staffers Dave Reese and Sally Finneran.