Alert readers likely already have noted that there’s a different feel to today’s newspaper — especially if you’re used to receiving a completely different newspaper or getting the East Oregonian on Tuesday instead of Wednesday.

Let us explain.

This revamped version of the East Oregonian is meant to serve as a true regional newspaper, serving Baker, Grant, Morrow, Umatilla, Union and Wallowa counties. It comes as a result of cost-cutting measures that the East Oregonian’s parent company, EO Media Group, is taking to try to stem financial losses. No one is happy about cutting costs, but this is part of the landscape newspapers, especially smaller newspapers, must deal with.

As part of that cost-cutting, the company has suspended producing print editions of five of its weekly newspapers in Eastern Oregon: The Baker City Herald, the Hermiston Herald, the La Grande Observer, the Wallowa County Chieftain and the Blue Mountain Eagle in John Day. The East Oregonian, which had been published twice each week, is moving to a once-a-week print publication on Wednesdays.

However, the company’s news-gathering operations in each of those counties will continue to produce news content for their individual websites. (See the related box for a list of those websites.)

And the best of those stories will find their way into the weekly edition of the East Oregonian — the newspaper you now hold — along with other content we believe will be of interest to residents of Eastern Oregon.

The weekly East Oregonian will be a little heftier than the newspapers that have been appearing recently in your mailboxes. The A section will feature news from throughout Eastern Oregon — in many cases, the same stories that would have appeared in the Eagle, the Chieftain, the Observer, and the two Heralds. But the paper also will include sections devoted to outdoors and recreation, and to business and agriculture news.

The newspaper also will include Go! Eastern Oregon, our weekly arts-and-entertainment publication, as well as classified advertising, comics and puzzles, Dear Abby and a weather graphic.

It’s worth noting that even an expanded East Oregonian won’t have enough space to include all of the stories that our reporters produce. But all of those stories will appear online at our various websites. If you’re a subscriber, you get access to all of those websites, at no additional cost.

It’s also worth noting that the revamped East Oregonian will be very much a work in progress throughout the summer (and likely beyond) as we figure out what works — and what doesn’t work so well. To that end, if you have a thought or question about the new publication — or, for that matter, anything about our news operations — email it to editor@wallowa.com. We’ll get back to you as quickly as we can.

And let us know what you think about this first edition: What did you like? What needs work? In the world of newspaper journalism, you don’t get a lot of time to create a new product, so we know there’s more work to be done. That work gets easier if it gets done as part of a continuing discussion with readers. So join the discussion. And thanks for reading.

Subscribers have access to 6 EO Media Group websites

Here’s a list of the EO Media Group websites in Eastern Oregon to which subscribers now have full access:

• Baker City Herald: bakercityherald.com

• Blue Mountain Eagle: bluemountaineagle.com

• East Oregonian: eastoregonian.com

• Hermiston Herald: hermistonherald.com

• La Grande Observer: lagrandeobserver.com

• Wallowa County Chieftain: wallowa.com