The Oregonian
Encyclopedia
The Oregonian is the major daily newspaper in Portland, Oregon
, owned by Advance Publications
. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the U.S. west coast
, founded as a weekly by Thomas J. Dryer
on December 4, 1850. It is the largest newspaper in Oregon
and the Pacific Northwest
by circulation and the 19th largest daily newspaper in the country.
The Oregonian received the Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting
in 1999, and since then has received four other Pulitzers, including the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service
, and most recently, the prize for Breaking News Reporting
in 2007.
; it is also home delivered in parts of Marion and Columbia counties. Some independent dealers deliver the newspaper outside of that area, though in 2006 it became no longer available in far eastern Oregon
and the southern Oregon Coast
, and starting in December 2008 "increasing newsprint and distribution costs" caused the paper to stop deliveries to all areas south of Albany
.
The paper maintains an online presence through OregonLive.com
, a website controlled by Advance Publications' New Jersey-based web division.
-slanted newspaper to promote Portland. The paper was founded by Stephen Coffin and William W. Chapman
, who recruited Thomas Jefferson Dryer, living in San Francisco, to serve as editor. The first issue was put out on December 4, 1850, running on "Dryer's old hand press and worn type". Chapman may have coined the name, but the political tone of the paper came from Coffin, and Dryer "ran the paper as his personal fief".
Henry Pittock
became the owner in 1861 as compensation for unpaid wages, and he began publishing the paper daily, except Sundays. Pittock's goal was to focus more on news than the bully pulpit
established by Dryer. He ordered a new press in December 1860 and also arranged for the news to be sent by telegraph to Redding, California
, then by stagecoach to Jacksonville, Oregon
, and then by pony express
to Portland.
From 1866 to 1872 Harvey W. Scott
was the editor. Henry W. Corbett
bought the paper from a cash-poor Pittock in October 1872 and placed William Lair Hill
as editor. Scott, fired by Corbett for supporting Ben Holladay
's candidates, became editor of Holladay's rival Bulletin newspaper. The paper went bankrupt around 1874, Holladay having lost $200,000 in the process. Corbett sold The Oregonian back to Pittock in 1877.
In 1881, the first Sunday Oregonian was published. The paper became known as the voice of business-oriented Republicans, as evidenced by consistent endorsement of Republican candidates for president
in every federal election before 1992.
The paper's offices and presses were originally housed in a two-story building at the intersection of First Street (now First Avenue) and Morrison Street, but in 1892 the paper moved into a new nine-story building at 6th and Alder streets, not moving again until 1948.
In 1922, The Morning Oregonian launched KGW, Oregon's first commercial radio station. Five years later, KGW affiliated with NBC
(1927). The Morning Oregonian purchased a second station, KEX
, in 1933, from NBC subsidiary
Northwest Broadcasting Co. In 1944, KEX was sold to Westinghouse Radio Stations, Inc. The Oregonian launched KGW-FM, the Northwest's first FM station, in 1946 (acclaimed by "The Oregonian" May 8, 1946), known today as KKRZ
. KGW and KGW-FM were sold to King Broadcasting Co in 1953.
In 1937, The Morning Oregonian shortened its name to The Oregonian. Two years later, associate editor Ronald G. Callvert received a Pulitzer Prize
for editorial reporting
for "distinguished editorial writing...as exemplified by the editorial entitled "My Country 'Tis of Thee
.".
In 1948, the paper moved to its present location, the Oregonian Building, designed by Pietro Belluschi
, located at SW Broadway between Jefferson Street and Madison Street. The block was previously home to the William S. Ladd
mansion, which had been demolished around 1925. Circa 1946, The Oregonian purchased the block for $100,000, which led to complaints from paper editor Leslie M. Scott
because of the outrageous price. Three years later, Scott purchased a nearby block for the state at $300,000 while holding the office of Oregon State Treasurer
.
The new Oregonian building was to contain the KGW
radio station and a television studio, as well as a large and opulent dining room. The contractor was L. H. Hoffman, who was under a very profitable cost-plus contract
. Aside from the "extravagance of design", construction materials in short supply, the nation was under heavy inflation, and Belluschi's plans were never ready, leading to massive costs. The Oregonian had to borrow from banks, the first time in over 50 years. New company president E. B. MacNaughton was forced to exhaust the company's loan limits at First National Bank
, then turn to the Bank of America
. MacNaughton then eliminated an extra elevator, the dining room, and KGW's radio and television studios. The building still cost $4 million, twice the original estimate.
The building opened in 1948, but The Oregonian had to sell it to Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Company for $3.6 million in a leaseback
arrangement. Further financial issues led to the 1950 sale to Samuel Newhouse.
founder S. I. "Si" Newhouse
purchased the paper. At that time, the sale price of $5.6 million was the largest for a single newspaper. The sale was announced on December 11, 1950. In 1954, Newhouse bought 50% of Mount Hood Radio & Television Broadcasting Corp, which broadcasts KOIN
-TV, Portland's first VHF television station, KOIN AM (now KUFO), and KOIN-FM (now KXL-FM). The Oregonian's circulation in 1950 was 214,916; that of the rival Oregon Journal was 190,844.
In 1957, staff writers William Lambert and Wallace Turner
were awarded the that year's Pulitzer Prize
for Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting, No Edition Time
. Their prize cited "their expose of vice and corruption
in Portland involving some municipal officials and officers of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers of America
, Western Conference" and noted that "they fulfilled their assignments despite great handicaps and the risk of reprisal from lawless elements."
What was to become a long and heated strike began against both The Oregonian and the Oregon Journal began in November 1959. The strike was called by Stereotypers Local 49 over various contract issues, particularly the introduction of more automated plate-casting machinery; the new-to-American-publishing German-made equipment required one operator instead of the four that operated the existing equipment. Wallace Turner and many other writers and photographers refused to cross the picket lines and never returned. The two newspapers published a "joint, typo-marred paper" for six months until they had hired enough nonunion help to resume separate operations. Starting in February 1960, striking union workers published a daily newspaper, The (Portland) Reporter; its circulation peaked at 78,000, but was shut down in October 1964.
In 1961, Newhouse bought the Oregon Journal
, Portland's afternoon daily newspaper. Production and business operations of the two newspapers were consolidated in The Oregonians building, while their editorial staffs remained separate. The National Labor Relations Board
ruled the strike illegal in November 1963. Strikers continued to picket until April 4, 1965, at which point the two newspapers became open shop
s.
In 1967, Fred Stickel came to The Oregonian from New Jersey to become general manager of the paper; he became president in 1972 and publisher in 1975.
As part of a larger corporate plan to exit broadcasting, The Oregonian sold KOIN-TV to newspaper owner Lee Enterprises
in 1977. At the same time, KOIN-AM and -FM were sold to Gaylord Broadcasting Co. Since S. I. Newhouse died in 1979, S.I. Jr.
has managed the magazine
s, and Donald
oversees the newspapers.
Advance/Newhouse shut down the Journal in 1982, citing declining advertising
revenues. The paper established an Asia bureau in Tokyo, Japan in 1989, becoming the first Pacific Northwest newspaper with a foreign correspondent.
The Oregonian recalled a 1989 edition that featured an article that criticized a prominent local business and advertising customer; in 1992, the Wall Street Journal cited The Oregonian as an example of a newspaper muffling its criticism of business to appeal to commercial advertisers. The Oregonian endorsed a Democratic candidate for president for the first time in its history when it supported Bill Clinton
in 1992.
The year 1993 was an eventful year for The Oregonian. Robert M. Landauer, then editorial page editor, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Editorial Writing for "a bold campaign to defuse myths and prejudice promoted by an anti-homosexual constitutional amendment, which was subsequently defeated", according to the Pulitzer judges. The integrity of The Oregonian became the subject of national coverage when The Washington Post
broke the story of inappropriate sexual advances which led to the resignation of Oregon senator
Bob Packwood
four years later. This prompted some to joke, "If it matters to Oregonians, it's in the Washington Post" (a twist on the Oregonian's slogan "If it matters to Oregonians, it's in The Oregonian). Finally, Newhouse appointed a new editor for the paper, Sandra Rowe, who relocated from The Virginian-Pilot
.
Sandra Rowe joined the paper as editor in 1993. According to Editor & Publisher
, soon after her arrival, she introduced organizational changes to the newsroom. Instead of having a large number of general assignment reporters, she organized them around teams, many of which often develop "subject expertise" that "reflect[s] the interests of readers, not traditional newsroom boundaries." Examples (over the years) include "Northwest Issues and Environment", "Living In the '90s"/"How We Live", "Politics and Accountability", "Health, Science, and Medicine", "Sustainability and Growth", and "Higher Education". Accompanying the reorganization was a more bottom-up approach to identifying stories: "instead of having an assignment-driven
newspaper, you have the beat reporters coming to editors with what is going on", with the team editors responsible for deciding what stories were covered by their teams.
The position of public editor
was established at The Oregonian in 1993, and Robert Caldwell was appointed. Michele McLellan assumed the role three years later, and was delegated the authority to decide whether or not a newspaper error should result in the publication of a correction.
The paper and several reporters were recognized for excellence in 1999. Staff writer Richard Read
won the Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting
, for a series, The French Fry Connection, that illustrated the impact of the Asian economic crisis, by reducing local french fries
exports. Co-worker Tom Hallman Jr., was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Feature Writing, for his "unique profile of a man struggling to recover from a brain injury". The paper won Overseas Press Club awards for business reporting, and for human rights reporting. The editors of Columbia Journalism Review
recognized The Oregonian as number twelve on its list of "America's Best Newspapers", and the best newspaper owned by the Newhouse family.
. The articles detailed "how fumbling efforts of official agencies failed to contain the far-reaching damage", according to the Pulitzer jury. That same year reporters Brent Walth and Alex Pulaski were finalists for the Pulitzer Prize in Explanatory Writing for their series on political influences in pesticide regulation.
The Oregonian and news staff were acknowledged with two Pulitzer Prizes in 2001. The paper was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service
, for its "detailed and unflinching examination of systematic problems within the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service
, including harsh treatment of foreign nationals and other widespread abuses, which prompted various reforms." Staff writer Tom Hallman Jr. received a Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing
for his series, The Boy Behind the Mask, on a teen with a facial deformity.
In 2003, music critic David Stabler was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Feature Writing for "his sensitive, sometimes surprising chronicle of a teenage prodigy's struggle with a musical talent that proved to be both a gift and a problem". Michael Arrieta-Walden became public editor in 2003; when he ended his three-year term in the position, no successor was named.
In 2004 the paper faced criticism after a headline characterized a 1970s sexual relationship between then-mayor Neil Goldschmidt
and a 14-year-old girl as an "affair
", rather than statutory rape
.
The paper endorsed a Democrat for president for the second time in its 150-year history when it backed John Kerry
for president in 2004.
In 2005, staff reporters Steve Suo and Erin Hoover Barnett were finalists for the Pulitzer Prize in National Reporting for "their groundbreaking reports on the failure to curtail the growing illicit use of methamphetamine
s". That same year, Americans United for Palestinian Human Rights published two reports on The Oregonian, claiming the paper under-reported Palestinian deaths in its news stories of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict and excluded the Palestinian narrative in its Opinion Pages.
Editorial writers Doug Bates and Rick Attig
were awarded the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing
for their editorials on the conditions at the Oregon State Hospital
.
In 2007, The Oregonian and its journalists were recognized with several awards. Sports columnist John Canzano
was selected as the nation's No. 2 sports columnist in the annual Associated Press Sports Editors Awards. Three Oregonian reporters—Jeff Kosseff
, Bryan Denson, and Les Zaitz— were awarded the George Polk Award for national reporting
, for their series about the failure of a decades-old, multi-billion dollar, federal program established by the Javits-Wagner-O'Day Act
intended to help people with severe disabilities find employment. Instead it "awarded executives handsomely but left disabled workers in segregated jobs often paying less than minimum wage."
On April 16, 2007, it was announced that the staff of The Oregonian was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting
for their "skillful and tenacious coverage of a family missing in the Oregon mountains
, telling the tragic story both in print and online." In addition, the paper's reporters were finalists in two other categories. Les Zaitz, Jeff Kosseff and Bryan Denson were finalists for the Pulitzer for National Reporting for the same series that also won the George Polk Award noted above. Inara Verzemnieks was nominated for the Pulitzer for Feature Writing for "her witty and perceptive portfolio of features on an array of everyday topics", according to the Pulitzer judges.
In February 2008, Editor & Publisher
named editor Sandra Mims Rowe and executive editor Peter Bhatia as "Editors of the Year". The trade journal
noted that since Rowe and Bhatia arrived in 1993, the paper and its journalists have won five Pulitzer Prizes and been finalists another nine times. E&P also cited "an increased focus on specialized reporting; a reorganized newsroom that promotes "team reporting" concepts over traditional beats; and regular training sessions and seminars that most staffers credit for encouraging fresh ideas and competitive approaches." Pulitzer Board member Richard A. Oppel, the editor of the Austin American-Statesman
called the paper "one of the finest newspapers in the country, easily in the top 10."
On September 28, 2008, the paper distributed a DVD of Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West
as an advertising supplement for that day's edition, two weeks after The New York Times
, The Charlotte Observer
and The Miami Herald
had done the same thing. The Oregonian did so despite Portland mayor Tom Potter
's personal request that publisher Fred Stickel not distribute it because the "tenor of the video contributes towards a climate of distrust towards Muslims", and because the paper's willingness to distribute the DVD bestows upon it "an impression of objectivity and legitimacy it does not deserve." Stickel cited "freedom of speech
", and an "obligation to keep our advertising columns as open as possible" as reasons for not rejecting the DVD.
For the second straight year, sports columnist John Canzano
was selected as the nation's No. 2 sports columnist in the annual Associated Press Sports Editors Awards in 2008.
Newsroom staff in 2008 was about the same size as it was in 1993, though there were fifty fewer full-time staff members than there were in 2002; about half of those positions were eliminated after a buyout
in late 2007. The paper's outside news bureau
s grew from four to six during her tenure.
In 2009, The Oregonian was scooped for a third time on a story of an Oregon politician's sex scandal, this time involving Mayor Sam Adams about what Newsweek
called his "public deception and private bad judgment" about his past relationship with a teenage legislative intern. Nigel Jaquiss
of Willamette Week
broke the story after 18 months of investigations; Jaquiss's reporting on another sex scandal involving Neil Goldschmidt
earned Jaquiss a 2005 Pulitzer Prize
. Jaquiss thinks The Oregonian' s failure to follow up on leads that both he and Oregonian reporters had received was a case of "one-newspaper towns being a little too cozy with local power broker
s." A media ethics
teacher and consultant for The Poynter Institute for Media Studies suggests that the pattern of failure to cover such stories "may have more to do with the culture at The Oregonian, which has recently "built its reputation on thoughtful, narrative coverage ...[that] doesn't lend itself well to digging up sex scandals."
In August 2009, the paper's owners announced the end of a policy that protected full-time employees from layoffs for economic or technological reasons; the change took effect the following February. In September 2009, publisher Fred Stickel announced his retirement, effective September 18, ending 34 years in the position; his son Patrick, president of the paper, was appointed interim publisher but was not a candidate to succeed his father, and Patrick Stickel retired on December 30, 2009.
N. Christian Anderson III was named as the new publisher in October, and began work in the position at the beginning of November 2009. After more than 16 years as editor, Sandra Rowe retired at the end of 2009. Peter Bhatia, then executive editor, succeeded her as editor.
Layoffs of 37 in February 2010 left the paper with a total of about 750 employees, including more than 200 in the news department. In September, the newspaper announced its "TV Click" was to be replaced by TV Weekly, a publication from the Troy, Michigan
-based NTVB Media. Unlike "TV Click", TV Weekly requires a separate subscription fee; The Oregonian is following the example of the Houston Chronicle
and other major newspapers and switching to "some form of 'opt in and pay' TV sections (rather than dropping the sections) and have found only about 10 percent to 20 percent of subscribers use the sections."
, and sold on newsstands to 5,000 others. A fourth glossy magazine, Explore the Pearl, is produced in conjunction with the Pearl District
Business Association, and mailed to "high-income Portland Metro households" within Lake Oswego
, West Linn
, Mountain Park, Lakeridge, Forest Heights, Raleigh Hills
, Oak Hills
, West Hills, Dunthorpe
, and Clark County
.
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
, owned by Advance Publications
Advance Publications
Advance Publications, Inc., is an American media company owned by the descendants of S.I. Newhouse Sr., Donald Newhouse and S.I. Newhouse, Jr. It is named after the Staten Island Advance, the first newspaper owned by the Newhouse family...
. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the U.S. west coast
West Coast of the United States
West Coast or Pacific Coast are terms for the westernmost coastal states of the United States. The term most often refers to the states of California, Oregon, and Washington. Although not part of the contiguous United States, Alaska and Hawaii do border the Pacific Ocean but can't be included in...
, founded as a weekly by Thomas J. Dryer
Thomas J. Dryer
Thomas Jefferson Dryer was a newspaper publisher, Freemason, mountain climber, and politician in the Western United States.He was born on January 10, 1808, in Ulster County, New York. Dryer founded the Weekly Oregonian, which has survived as the daily Oregonian, and served as its publisher...
on December 4, 1850. It is the largest newspaper in Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
and the Pacific Northwest
Pacific Northwest
The Pacific Northwest is a region in northwestern North America, bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains on the east. Definitions of the region vary and there is no commonly agreed upon boundary, even among Pacific Northwesterners. A common concept of the...
by circulation and the 19th largest daily newspaper in the country.
The Oregonian received the Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting
Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting
The Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting has been presented since 1998, for a distinguished example of explanatory reporting that illuminates a significant and complex subject, demonstrating mastery of the subject, lucid writing and clear presentation...
in 1999, and since then has received four other Pulitzers, including the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service
Pulitzer Prize for Public Service
The Pulitzer Prize for Public Service has been awarded since 1918 for a distinguished example of meritorious public service by a newspaper or news site through the use of its journalistic resources. Those resources, as well as reporting, may include editorials, cartoons, photographs, graphics,...
, and most recently, the prize for Breaking News Reporting
Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting
The Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting is a Pulitzer Prize awarded for a distinguished example of breaking news, local reporting on news of the moment...
in 2007.
Targeted audience
The Oregonian is home delivered throughout Multnomah, Washington, Clackamas, and Yamhill counties in Oregon and Clark County, WashingtonClark County, Washington
Clark County is a county located in the southwestern part of the U.S. state of Washington, across the Columbia River from Portland, Oregon.Clark County was the first county of Washington, named after William Clark of the Lewis and Clark Expedition...
; it is also home delivered in parts of Marion and Columbia counties. Some independent dealers deliver the newspaper outside of that area, though in 2006 it became no longer available in far eastern Oregon
Eastern Oregon
Eastern Oregon is the eastern part of the U.S. state of Oregon. It is not an officially recognized geographic entity, thus the boundaries of the region vary according to context. It is sometimes understood to include only the eight easternmost counties in the state; in other contexts, it includes...
and the southern Oregon Coast
Oregon Coast
The Oregon Coast is a region of the U.S. state of Oregon. It runs generally north-south along the Pacific Ocean, forming the western border of the state; the region is bounded to the east by the Oregon Coast Range. The Oregon Coast stretches approximately from the Columbia River in the north to...
, and starting in December 2008 "increasing newsprint and distribution costs" caused the paper to stop deliveries to all areas south of Albany
Albany, Oregon
Albany is the eleventh largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon, and is the county seat of Linn County. It is located in the Willamette Valley at the confluence of the Calapooia River and the Willamette River in both Linn and Benton counties, just east of Corvallis and south of Salem. It is...
.
The paper maintains an online presence through OregonLive.com
OregonLive.com
OregonLive.com is the online home of The Oregonian and The Hillsboro Argus. Started in 1997, it is owned by Advance Publications, which also owns the two newspapers...
, a website controlled by Advance Publications' New Jersey-based web division.
1850-1900
The Oregonian was founded as the Weekly Oregonian in 1850. It was founded by businessmen whose goal was to establish a WhigWhig Party (United States)
The Whig Party was a political party of the United States during the era of Jacksonian democracy. Considered integral to the Second Party System and operating from the early 1830s to the mid-1850s, the party was formed in opposition to the policies of President Andrew Jackson and his Democratic...
-slanted newspaper to promote Portland. The paper was founded by Stephen Coffin and William W. Chapman
William W. Chapman
William Williams Chapman was an American politician and lawyer in Oregon and Iowa. He was born and raised in Virginia. He served as a United States Attorney in Iowa when it was part of the Michigan and Wisconsin territories, and then represented the Iowa Territory in the United States House of...
, who recruited Thomas Jefferson Dryer, living in San Francisco, to serve as editor. The first issue was put out on December 4, 1850, running on "Dryer's old hand press and worn type". Chapman may have coined the name, but the political tone of the paper came from Coffin, and Dryer "ran the paper as his personal fief".
Henry Pittock
Henry Pittock
Henry Lewis Pittock was an Oregon pioneer, newspaper editor, publisher, and wood and paper magnate. He was active in Republican politics and Portland, Oregon civic affairs, a Freemason and an avid outdoorsman and adventurer...
became the owner in 1861 as compensation for unpaid wages, and he began publishing the paper daily, except Sundays. Pittock's goal was to focus more on news than the bully pulpit
Bully pulpit
A bully pulpit is a public office or other position of authority of sufficiently high rank that provides the holder with an opportunity to speak out and be listened to on any matter...
established by Dryer. He ordered a new press in December 1860 and also arranged for the news to be sent by telegraph to Redding, California
Redding, California
Redding is a city in far-Northern California. It is the county seat of Shasta County, California, USA. With a population of 89,861, according to the 2010 Census...
, then by stagecoach to Jacksonville, Oregon
Jacksonville, Oregon
Jacksonville is a city in Jackson County, Oregon, United States, a few miles west of Medford. It was named for Jackson Creek, which runs through the community and was the site of one of the first placer gold claims in the area. It includes Jacksonville Historic District which was designated a U.S....
, and then by pony express
Pony Express
The Pony Express was a fast mail service crossing the Great Plains, the Rocky Mountains, and the High Sierra from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento, California, from April 3, 1860 to October 1861...
to Portland.
From 1866 to 1872 Harvey W. Scott
Harvey W. Scott
Harvey Whitefield Scott was an American pioneer, newspaper editor, and historian.Scott was born in on a farm in Illinois and migrated to Oregon with his family in 1852, settling in Yamhill County. He and his family moved near Olympia, Washington in 1853. At age 18, he fought in the American Indian...
was the editor. Henry W. Corbett
Henry W. Corbett
Henry Winslow Corbett was an American businessman and politician in the state of Oregon. A native of Massachusetts, he spend much of his early life in the state of New York before moving to the Oregon Territory where he continued his business interests in retail, and later transportation and banking...
bought the paper from a cash-poor Pittock in October 1872 and placed William Lair Hill
William Lair Hill
- External links :* from the History of the Pacific Northwest, Oregon and Washington, 1889* from the History of Seattle, Washington: with illustrations and biographical sketches...
as editor. Scott, fired by Corbett for supporting Ben Holladay
Ben Holladay
Benjamin "Ben" Holladay was an American transportation businessman known as the "Stagecoach King" until his routes were taken over by Wells Fargo in 1866...
's candidates, became editor of Holladay's rival Bulletin newspaper. The paper went bankrupt around 1874, Holladay having lost $200,000 in the process. Corbett sold The Oregonian back to Pittock in 1877.
In 1881, the first Sunday Oregonian was published. The paper became known as the voice of business-oriented Republicans, as evidenced by consistent endorsement of Republican candidates for president
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
in every federal election before 1992.
The paper's offices and presses were originally housed in a two-story building at the intersection of First Street (now First Avenue) and Morrison Street, but in 1892 the paper moved into a new nine-story building at 6th and Alder streets, not moving again until 1948.
1900-1950
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
(1927). The Morning Oregonian purchased a second station, KEX
KEX (AM)
KEX is a class A clear channel AM radio station broadcasting from Portland, Oregon. As of 2005 it is owned by Clear Channel Communications and runs news/talk programming. Because KEX is a Class A station, KEX reaches most of the densely populated areas of Oregon, providing grade B coverage as far...
, in 1933, from NBC subsidiary
Subsidiary
A subsidiary company, subsidiary, or daughter company is a company that is completely or partly owned and wholly controlled by another company that owns more than half of the subsidiary's stock. The subsidiary can be a company, corporation, or limited liability company. In some cases it is a...
Northwest Broadcasting Co. In 1944, KEX was sold to Westinghouse Radio Stations, Inc. The Oregonian launched KGW-FM, the Northwest's first FM station, in 1946 (acclaimed by "The Oregonian" May 8, 1946), known today as KKRZ
KKRZ
KKRZ is a commercial broadcast radio station in Portland, Oregon, also known as Z-100, broadcasts CHR music.-History:What is now KKRZ first signed on May, 7, 1946 as KGW-FM on 95.3 MHz and moved to 100.3 MHz on September 22, 1947...
. KGW and KGW-FM were sold to King Broadcasting Co in 1953.
In 1937, The Morning Oregonian shortened its name to The Oregonian. Two years later, associate editor Ronald G. Callvert received a Pulitzer Prize
1939 Pulitzer Prize
-Journalism awards:* Public Service:** Miami Daily News for its campaign for the recall of the Miami City Commission.* Reporting:** Thomas Lunsford Stokes of Scripps-Howard Newspaper Alliance for his series of articles on alleged intimidation of workers for the Works Progress Administration in...
for editorial reporting
Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing
The Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing has been awarded since 1917 for distinguished editorial writing, the test of excellence being clearness of style, moral purpose, sound reasoning, and power to influence public opinion in what the writer conceives to be the right direction...
for "distinguished editorial writing...as exemplified by the editorial entitled "My Country 'Tis of Thee
My Country, 'Tis of Thee
"My Country, 'Tis of Thee", also known as "America", is an American patriotic song, whose lyrics were written by Samuel Francis Smith. The melody derived from Muzio Clementi's Symphony No. 3, and is shared with "God Save the Queen," used by many members of the Commonwealth of Nations...
.".
In 1948, the paper moved to its present location, the Oregonian Building, designed by Pietro Belluschi
Pietro Belluschi
Pietro Belluschi was an American architect, a leader of the Modern Movement in architecture, and was responsible for the design of over one thousand buildings....
, located at SW Broadway between Jefferson Street and Madison Street. The block was previously home to the William S. Ladd
William S. Ladd
William Sargent Ladd was an American politician and businessman in Oregon. He twice served as Portland, Oregon’s mayor in the 1850s. A native of Vermont, he was a prominent figure in the early development of Portland, and co-founded the first bank in the state in 1859...
mansion, which had been demolished around 1925. Circa 1946, The Oregonian purchased the block for $100,000, which led to complaints from paper editor Leslie M. Scott
Leslie M. Scott
Leslie M. Scott was an American historian, newspaper publisher and Republican politician in Oregon. He served as Oregon State Treasurer from 1941-1949. He served as acting Governor of Oregon for a period in 1948...
because of the outrageous price. Three years later, Scott purchased a nearby block for the state at $300,000 while holding the office of Oregon State Treasurer
Oregon State Treasurer
The Oregon State Treasurer is a constitutional officer within the executive branch of the government of the U.S. state of Oregon, elected by statewide vote to serve a four year term. As chief financial officer for the state, the office holder heads the Oregon State Treasury, and with the Governor...
.
The new Oregonian building was to contain the KGW
KGW
KGW is an NBC affiliate television station serving the Portland, Oregon metropolitan area. The station broadcasts its digital signal on VHF channel 8, from its transmitter in Portland. It also produces segments and serves as the Portland bureau for Northwest Cable News , which is also owned by...
radio station and a television studio, as well as a large and opulent dining room. The contractor was L. H. Hoffman, who was under a very profitable cost-plus contract
Cost-plus contract
A cost-plus contract, also termed a Cost Reimbursement Contract, is a contract where a contractor is paid for all of its allowed expenses to a set limit plus additional payment to allow for a profit. Cost-reimbursement contracts contrast with fixed-price contract, in which the contractor is paid a...
. Aside from the "extravagance of design", construction materials in short supply, the nation was under heavy inflation, and Belluschi's plans were never ready, leading to massive costs. The Oregonian had to borrow from banks, the first time in over 50 years. New company president E. B. MacNaughton was forced to exhaust the company's loan limits at First National Bank
First National Bank (Portland, Oregon)
The First National Bank is a building located in downtown Portland, Oregon, listed on the National Register of Historic Places....
, then turn to the Bank of America
Bank of America
Bank of America Corporation, an American multinational banking and financial services corporation, is the second largest bank holding company in the United States by assets, and the fourth largest bank in the U.S. by market capitalization. The bank is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina...
. MacNaughton then eliminated an extra elevator, the dining room, and KGW's radio and television studios. The building still cost $4 million, twice the original estimate.
The building opened in 1948, but The Oregonian had to sell it to Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Company for $3.6 million in a leaseback
Leaseback
Leaseback, short for sale-and-leaseback, is a financial transaction, where one sells an asset and leases it back for the long-term; therefore, one continues to be able to use the asset but no longer owns it...
arrangement. Further financial issues led to the 1950 sale to Samuel Newhouse.
1950-2000
In 1950, Advance PublicationsAdvance Publications
Advance Publications, Inc., is an American media company owned by the descendants of S.I. Newhouse Sr., Donald Newhouse and S.I. Newhouse, Jr. It is named after the Staten Island Advance, the first newspaper owned by the Newhouse family...
founder S. I. "Si" Newhouse
Samuel Irving Newhouse, Sr.
Samuel Irving Newhouse, Sr. was an American broadcasting businessman, magazine and newspaper publisher. He was the founder of Advance Publications, eventually taken over by his son, Samuel Irving Newhouse, Jr..-Biography:...
purchased the paper. At that time, the sale price of $5.6 million was the largest for a single newspaper. The sale was announced on December 11, 1950. In 1954, Newhouse bought 50% of Mount Hood Radio & Television Broadcasting Corp, which broadcasts KOIN
KOIN
KOIN is the CBS affiliate television station serving the Portland metropolitan area. Its transmitter is located in Portland, Oregon, United States; it broadcasts its digital signal on UHF channel 40...
-TV, Portland's first VHF television station, KOIN AM (now KUFO), and KOIN-FM (now KXL-FM). The Oregonian's circulation in 1950 was 214,916; that of the rival Oregon Journal was 190,844.
In 1957, staff writers William Lambert and Wallace Turner
Wallace Turner
Wallace Turner was an American journalist and government administrator. A native of Florida, he won a Pulitzer Prize in 1957 while working for The Oregonian in Portland, Oregon...
were awarded the that year's Pulitzer Prize
1957 Pulitzer Prize
-Journalism awards:*Public Service:**the Chicago Daily News, for determined and courageous public service in exposing a $2,500,000 fraud centering in the office of the State Auditor of Illinois, resulting in the indictment and conviction of the State Auditor and others...
for Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting, No Edition Time
Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting
The Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting is awarded to an example of "local reporting that illuminates significant issues or concerns." This Pulitzer Prize was first awarded in 1948. Like most Pulitzers the winner receives a $10,000 award.-History:...
. Their prize cited "their expose of vice and corruption
Political corruption
Political corruption is the use of legislated powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain. Misuse of government power for other purposes, such as repression of political opponents and general police brutality, is not considered political corruption. Neither are illegal acts by...
in Portland involving some municipal officials and officers of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers of America
Teamsters
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters is a labor union in the United States and Canada. Formed in 1903 by the merger of several local and regional locals of teamsters, the union now represents a diverse membership of blue-collar and professional workers in both the public and private sectors....
, Western Conference" and noted that "they fulfilled their assignments despite great handicaps and the risk of reprisal from lawless elements."
What was to become a long and heated strike began against both The Oregonian and the Oregon Journal began in November 1959. The strike was called by Stereotypers Local 49 over various contract issues, particularly the introduction of more automated plate-casting machinery; the new-to-American-publishing German-made equipment required one operator instead of the four that operated the existing equipment. Wallace Turner and many other writers and photographers refused to cross the picket lines and never returned. The two newspapers published a "joint, typo-marred paper" for six months until they had hired enough nonunion help to resume separate operations. Starting in February 1960, striking union workers published a daily newspaper, The (Portland) Reporter; its circulation peaked at 78,000, but was shut down in October 1964.
In 1961, Newhouse bought the Oregon Journal
Oregon Journal
The Oregon Journal was Portland, Oregon's daily afternoon newspaper from 1902 to 1982. The Journal was founded in Portland by C. S. Jackson, the publisher of Pendleton, Oregon's East Oregonian newspaper, after a group of Portlanders convinced Jackson to help in the reorganization of the Portland...
, Portland's afternoon daily newspaper. Production and business operations of the two newspapers were consolidated in The Oregonians building, while their editorial staffs remained separate. The National Labor Relations Board
National Labor Relations Board
The National Labor Relations Board is an independent agency of the United States government charged with conducting elections for labor union representation and with investigating and remedying unfair labor practices. Unfair labor practices may involve union-related situations or instances of...
ruled the strike illegal in November 1963. Strikers continued to picket until April 4, 1965, at which point the two newspapers became open shop
Open shop
An open shop is a place of employment at which one is not required to join or financially support a union as a condition of hiring or continued employment...
s.
In 1967, Fred Stickel came to The Oregonian from New Jersey to become general manager of the paper; he became president in 1972 and publisher in 1975.
As part of a larger corporate plan to exit broadcasting, The Oregonian sold KOIN-TV to newspaper owner Lee Enterprises
Lee Enterprises
Lee Enterprises is a publicly traded American media company. It publishes 54 daily newspapers in 23 states, and more than 300 weekly, classified, and specialty publications. Lee Enterprises was founded in 1890 by A.W. Lee and is based in Davenport, Iowa....
in 1977. At the same time, KOIN-AM and -FM were sold to Gaylord Broadcasting Co. Since S. I. Newhouse died in 1979, S.I. Jr.
Samuel Irving Newhouse, Jr.
Samuel Irving Newhouse, Jr. , nicknamed Si Newhouse, is the chairman and CEO of Advance Publications, which, among other interests, owns Condé Nast, publisher of many marquee brands in the world of magazines such as Vogue, Vanity Fair, and The New Yorker. He is the son of Samuel Irving...
has managed the magazine
Magazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
s, and Donald
Donald Newhouse
Donald Newhouse is one of the owners of Advance Publications. He has three children: Kathy, Michael, and Steven. He also has six grandchildren: Robert, David, Andrew, Sarah, Alex, and Kate...
oversees the newspapers.
Advance/Newhouse shut down the Journal in 1982, citing declining advertising
Advertising
Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...
revenues. The paper established an Asia bureau in Tokyo, Japan in 1989, becoming the first Pacific Northwest newspaper with a foreign correspondent.
The Oregonian recalled a 1989 edition that featured an article that criticized a prominent local business and advertising customer; in 1992, the Wall Street Journal cited The Oregonian as an example of a newspaper muffling its criticism of business to appeal to commercial advertisers. The Oregonian endorsed a Democratic candidate for president for the first time in its history when it supported Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
in 1992.
The year 1993 was an eventful year for The Oregonian. Robert M. Landauer, then editorial page editor, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Editorial Writing for "a bold campaign to defuse myths and prejudice promoted by an anti-homosexual constitutional amendment, which was subsequently defeated", according to the Pulitzer judges. The integrity of The Oregonian became the subject of national coverage when The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
broke the story of inappropriate sexual advances which led to the resignation of Oregon senator
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
Bob Packwood
Bob Packwood
Robert William "Bob" Packwood is a U.S. politician from Oregon and a member of the Republican Party. He resigned from the United States Senate, under threat of expulsion, in 1995 after allegations of sexual harassment, abuse and assault of women emerged.-Early life and career:Packwood was born in...
four years later. This prompted some to joke, "If it matters to Oregonians, it's in the Washington Post" (a twist on the Oregonian's slogan "If it matters to Oregonians, it's in The Oregonian). Finally, Newhouse appointed a new editor for the paper, Sandra Rowe, who relocated from The Virginian-Pilot
The Virginian-Pilot
The Virginian-Pilot is a daily newspaper based in Norfolk, Virginia, and serving the Hampton Roads metropolitan area, southeastern Virginia, the Eastern Shore of Virginia, and northeastern North Carolina. The flagship property of Landmark Media Enterprises, The Pilot is Virginia's largest daily...
.
Sandra Rowe joined the paper as editor in 1993. According to Editor & Publisher
Editor & Publisher
Editor & Publisher is a monthly magazine covering the North American newspaper industry. It is based in New York City. E&P calls itself "America's Oldest Journal Covering the Newspaper Industry" and describes itself on its website as "the authoritative journal covering all aspects of the North...
, soon after her arrival, she introduced organizational changes to the newsroom. Instead of having a large number of general assignment reporters, she organized them around teams, many of which often develop "subject expertise" that "reflect[s] the interests of readers, not traditional newsroom boundaries." Examples (over the years) include "Northwest Issues and Environment", "Living In the '90s"/"How We Live", "Politics and Accountability", "Health, Science, and Medicine", "Sustainability and Growth", and "Higher Education". Accompanying the reorganization was a more bottom-up approach to identifying stories: "instead of having an assignment-driven
Assignment editor
In journalism, an assignment editor is an editor – either at a newspaper, or radio or television station – who selects, develops and plans reporting assignments, either news events or feature stories, to be covered by reporters.....
newspaper, you have the beat reporters coming to editors with what is going on", with the team editors responsible for deciding what stories were covered by their teams.
The position of public editor
Public Editor
The job of the public editor is to supervise the implementation of proper journalism ethics at a newspaper, and to identify and examine critical errors or omissions, and to act as a liaison to the public. They do this primarily through a regular feature on a newspaper's editorial page. The position...
was established at The Oregonian in 1993, and Robert Caldwell was appointed. Michele McLellan assumed the role three years later, and was delegated the authority to decide whether or not a newspaper error should result in the publication of a correction.
The paper and several reporters were recognized for excellence in 1999. Staff writer Richard Read
Richard Read
Richard Read is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American journalist and a senior staff writer for The Oregonian newspaper in Portland, Oregon.-Early life:...
won the Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting
Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting
The Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting has been presented since 1998, for a distinguished example of explanatory reporting that illuminates a significant and complex subject, demonstrating mastery of the subject, lucid writing and clear presentation...
, for a series, The French Fry Connection, that illustrated the impact of the Asian economic crisis, by reducing local french fries
French fries
French fries , chips, fries, or French-fried potatoes are strips of deep-fried potato. North Americans tend to refer to any pieces of deep-fried potatoes as fries or French fries, while in the United Kingdom, Australia, Ireland and New Zealand, long, thinly cut slices of deep-fried potatoes are...
exports. Co-worker Tom Hallman Jr., was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Feature Writing, for his "unique profile of a man struggling to recover from a brain injury". The paper won Overseas Press Club awards for business reporting, and for human rights reporting. The editors of Columbia Journalism Review
Columbia Journalism Review
The Columbia Journalism Review is an American magazine for professional journalists published bimonthly by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism since 1961....
recognized The Oregonian as number twelve on its list of "America's Best Newspapers", and the best newspaper owned by the Newhouse family.
Since 2000
In 2000, The Oregonian was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Breaking News Reporting for its coverage of an environmental disaster created when the New Carissa, a freighter that carried nearly 400,000 gallons of heavy fuel, ran aground February 4, 1999, north of Coos Bay, OregonCoos Bay, Oregon
Coos Bay is a city located in Coos County, Oregon, United States, where the Coos River enters Coos Bay on the Pacific Ocean. The city borders the city of North Bend, and together they are often referred to as one entity called either Coos Bay-North Bend or the Bay Area...
. The articles detailed "how fumbling efforts of official agencies failed to contain the far-reaching damage", according to the Pulitzer jury. That same year reporters Brent Walth and Alex Pulaski were finalists for the Pulitzer Prize in Explanatory Writing for their series on political influences in pesticide regulation.
The Oregonian and news staff were acknowledged with two Pulitzer Prizes in 2001. The paper was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service
Pulitzer Prize for Public Service
The Pulitzer Prize for Public Service has been awarded since 1918 for a distinguished example of meritorious public service by a newspaper or news site through the use of its journalistic resources. Those resources, as well as reporting, may include editorials, cartoons, photographs, graphics,...
, for its "detailed and unflinching examination of systematic problems within the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service
Immigration and Naturalization Service
The United States Immigration and Naturalization Service , now referred to as Legacy INS, ceased to exist under that name on March 1, 2003, when most of its functions were transferred from the Department of Justice to three new components within the newly created Department of Homeland Security, as...
, including harsh treatment of foreign nationals and other widespread abuses, which prompted various reforms." Staff writer Tom Hallman Jr. received a Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing
Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing
The Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing has been awarded since 1979 for a distinguished example of feature writing giving prime consideration to high literary quality and originality. The Pulitzer Committee issues an official citation explaining the reasons for the award.-List of winners and their...
for his series, The Boy Behind the Mask, on a teen with a facial deformity.
In 2003, music critic David Stabler was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Feature Writing for "his sensitive, sometimes surprising chronicle of a teenage prodigy's struggle with a musical talent that proved to be both a gift and a problem". Michael Arrieta-Walden became public editor in 2003; when he ended his three-year term in the position, no successor was named.
Neil Goldschmidt
Neil Edward Goldschmidt is an American businessman and former Democratic politician from Oregon who held local, state, and federal offices over three decades. After serving as the governor of Oregon, Goldschmidt is widely considered the most influential figure in the state's politics, both as an...
and a 14-year-old girl as an "affair
Affair
Affair may refer to professional, personal, or public business matters or to a particular business or private activity of a temporary duration, as in family affair, a private affair, or a romantic affair.-Political affair:...
", rather than statutory rape
Statutory rape
The phrase statutory rape is a term used in some legal jurisdictions to describe sexual activities where one participant is below the age required to legally consent to the behavior...
.
The paper endorsed a Democrat for president for the second time in its 150-year history when it backed John Kerry
John Kerry
John Forbes Kerry is the senior United States Senator from Massachusetts, the 10th most senior U.S. Senator and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party in the 2004 presidential election, but lost to former President George W...
for president in 2004.
In 2005, staff reporters Steve Suo and Erin Hoover Barnett were finalists for the Pulitzer Prize in National Reporting for "their groundbreaking reports on the failure to curtail the growing illicit use of methamphetamine
Methamphetamine
Methamphetamine is a psychostimulant of the phenethylamine and amphetamine class of psychoactive drugs...
s". That same year, Americans United for Palestinian Human Rights published two reports on The Oregonian, claiming the paper under-reported Palestinian deaths in its news stories of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict and excluded the Palestinian narrative in its Opinion Pages.
Editorial writers Doug Bates and Rick Attig
Rick Attig
Rick Attig is an American journalist, currently an associate editor and editorial writer for The Oregonian newspaper in Portland, Oregon. He was a 2008 Knight Fellow at Stanford University and twice winner of the Pulitzer Prize....
were awarded the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing
Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing
The Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing has been awarded since 1917 for distinguished editorial writing, the test of excellence being clearness of style, moral purpose, sound reasoning, and power to influence public opinion in what the writer conceives to be the right direction...
for their editorials on the conditions at the Oregon State Hospital
Oregon State Hospital
Oregon State Hospital in Salem, Oregon, United States, is the primary state-run psychiatric hospital in the state of Oregon since Dammasch State Hospital closed in 1995. The facility is best known as the filming location for the Academy Award-winning film based on Ken Kesey's novel One Flew Over...
.
In 2007, The Oregonian and its journalists were recognized with several awards. Sports columnist John Canzano
John Canzano
John Canzano is an American sports columnist, radio talk show host on Portland's 750 AM "The Game" and sports columnist at The Oregonian newspaper in Portland, Oregon. He hosts a daily radio show called The Bald Faced Truth.-Career:...
was selected as the nation's No. 2 sports columnist in the annual Associated Press Sports Editors Awards. Three Oregonian reporters—Jeff Kosseff
Jeff Kosseff
Jeff Kosseff is an American journalist, and Washington, D.C. reporter for The Oregonian, a major newspaper based in Portland, Oregon.He graduated from the University of Michigan with a bachelor’s and master’s degrees....
, Bryan Denson, and Les Zaitz— were awarded the George Polk Award for national reporting
George Polk Awards
The George Polk Awards in Journalism are a series of American journalism awards presented annually by Long Island University in New York in the United States.-History:...
, for their series about the failure of a decades-old, multi-billion dollar, federal program established by the Javits-Wagner-O'Day Act
Javits-Wagner-O'Day Act
The Javits-Wagner-O'Day Act et seq. is a U.S. federal law requiring that all federal agencies purchase specified supplies and services from nonprofit agencies employing persons who are blind or have other significant disabilities. The Act was passed by the 92nd United States Congress in 1971; it...
intended to help people with severe disabilities find employment. Instead it "awarded executives handsomely but left disabled workers in segregated jobs often paying less than minimum wage."
On April 16, 2007, it was announced that the staff of The Oregonian was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting
Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting
The Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting is a Pulitzer Prize awarded for a distinguished example of breaking news, local reporting on news of the moment...
for their "skillful and tenacious coverage of a family missing in the Oregon mountains
Klamath Mountains
The Klamath Mountains, which include the Siskiyou, Marble, Scott, Trinity, Trinity Alps, Salmon, and northern Yolla-Bolly Mountains, are a rugged lightly populated mountain range in northwest California and southwest Oregon in the United States...
, telling the tragic story both in print and online." In addition, the paper's reporters were finalists in two other categories. Les Zaitz, Jeff Kosseff and Bryan Denson were finalists for the Pulitzer for National Reporting for the same series that also won the George Polk Award noted above. Inara Verzemnieks was nominated for the Pulitzer for Feature Writing for "her witty and perceptive portfolio of features on an array of everyday topics", according to the Pulitzer judges.
In February 2008, Editor & Publisher
Editor & Publisher
Editor & Publisher is a monthly magazine covering the North American newspaper industry. It is based in New York City. E&P calls itself "America's Oldest Journal Covering the Newspaper Industry" and describes itself on its website as "the authoritative journal covering all aspects of the North...
named editor Sandra Mims Rowe and executive editor Peter Bhatia as "Editors of the Year". The trade journal
Trade journal
A trade magazine, also called a professional magazine, is a magazine published with the intention of target marketing to a specific industry or type of trade. The collective term for this area of publishing is the trade press....
noted that since Rowe and Bhatia arrived in 1993, the paper and its journalists have won five Pulitzer Prizes and been finalists another nine times. E&P also cited "an increased focus on specialized reporting; a reorganized newsroom that promotes "team reporting" concepts over traditional beats; and regular training sessions and seminars that most staffers credit for encouraging fresh ideas and competitive approaches." Pulitzer Board member Richard A. Oppel, the editor of the Austin American-Statesman
Austin American-Statesman
The Austin American-Statesman is the major daily newspaper for Austin, the capital city of Texas. It is an award-winning publication owned by Cox Enterprises. The Newspaper places focus on issues affecting Austin and the Central Texas region....
called the paper "one of the finest newspapers in the country, easily in the top 10."
On September 28, 2008, the paper distributed a DVD of Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West
Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West
Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West, also called Obsession, is a 2005 documentary film about the perceived threat of radical Islam to Western civilization. Using extensive Arab television footage it claims to give an 'insider's view' of the hatred preached by radicals to incite global...
as an advertising supplement for that day's edition, two weeks after The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, The Charlotte Observer
The Charlotte Observer
The Charlotte Observer, serving Charlotte, North Carolina and its metro area, is the largest newspaper, in terms of circulation, in North Carolina and South Carolina...
and The Miami Herald
The Miami Herald
The Miami Herald is a daily newspaper owned by The McClatchy Company headquartered on Biscayne Bay in the Omni district of Downtown Miami, Florida, United States...
had done the same thing. The Oregonian did so despite Portland mayor Tom Potter
Tom Potter
Tom Potter is the former Mayor of the city of Portland, Oregon in the United States. He was elected in 2004, and left office in January 2009. He was succeeded by City Commissioner Sam Adams. Prior to Potter's service as mayor, he was Portland's police chief....
's personal request that publisher Fred Stickel not distribute it because the "tenor of the video contributes towards a climate of distrust towards Muslims", and because the paper's willingness to distribute the DVD bestows upon it "an impression of objectivity and legitimacy it does not deserve." Stickel cited "freedom of speech
Freedom of speech
Freedom of speech is the freedom to speak freely without censorship. The term freedom of expression is sometimes used synonymously, but includes any act of seeking, receiving and imparting information or ideas, regardless of the medium used...
", and an "obligation to keep our advertising columns as open as possible" as reasons for not rejecting the DVD.
For the second straight year, sports columnist John Canzano
John Canzano
John Canzano is an American sports columnist, radio talk show host on Portland's 750 AM "The Game" and sports columnist at The Oregonian newspaper in Portland, Oregon. He hosts a daily radio show called The Bald Faced Truth.-Career:...
was selected as the nation's No. 2 sports columnist in the annual Associated Press Sports Editors Awards in 2008.
Newsroom staff in 2008 was about the same size as it was in 1993, though there were fifty fewer full-time staff members than there were in 2002; about half of those positions were eliminated after a buyout
Buyout
A buyout, in finance, is an investment transaction by which the ownership equity of a company, or a majority share of the stock of the company is acquired. The acquiror thereby "buys out" control of the target company....
in late 2007. The paper's outside news bureau
News bureau
A News bureau is an office for gathering or distributing news. Similar terms are used for specialized bureaus, often to indicate geographic location or scope of coverage: a ‘Tokyo bureau’ refers to a given news operation's office in Tokyo; foreign bureau is a generic term for a news office set up...
s grew from four to six during her tenure.
In 2009, The Oregonian was scooped for a third time on a story of an Oregon politician's sex scandal, this time involving Mayor Sam Adams about what Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
called his "public deception and private bad judgment" about his past relationship with a teenage legislative intern. Nigel Jaquiss
Nigel Jaquiss
Nigel Jaquiss is an American journalist who won the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting, for his work exposing former Governor of Oregon Neil Goldschmidt's sexual abuse of a 14-year-old girl while he was mayor of Portland, Oregon...
of Willamette Week
Willamette Week
Willamette Week is an alternative weekly newspaper published in Portland, Oregon, United States. It features reports on local news, politics, sports, business and culture....
broke the story after 18 months of investigations; Jaquiss's reporting on another sex scandal involving Neil Goldschmidt
Neil Goldschmidt
Neil Edward Goldschmidt is an American businessman and former Democratic politician from Oregon who held local, state, and federal offices over three decades. After serving as the governor of Oregon, Goldschmidt is widely considered the most influential figure in the state's politics, both as an...
earned Jaquiss a 2005 Pulitzer Prize
2005 Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prizes for 2005 were announced on 2005-04-04.-Journalism:*Beat reporting: Amy Dockser Marcus of The Wall Street Journal for her "stories about patients, families and physicians [of the] world of cancer survivors"....
. Jaquiss thinks The Oregonian
Power broker (term)
A power broker is a person who can influence people to vote towards a particular client in exchange for political or financial benefits. Power brokers can also negotiate deals with other power brokers to meet their aims....
s." A media ethics
Media ethics
Media ethics is the subdivision of applied ethics dealing with the specific ethical principles and standards of media, including broadcast media, film, theatre, the arts, print media and the internet...
teacher and consultant for The Poynter Institute for Media Studies suggests that the pattern of failure to cover such stories "may have more to do with the culture at The Oregonian, which has recently "built its reputation on thoughtful, narrative coverage ...[that] doesn't lend itself well to digging up sex scandals."
In August 2009, the paper's owners announced the end of a policy that protected full-time employees from layoffs for economic or technological reasons; the change took effect the following February. In September 2009, publisher Fred Stickel announced his retirement, effective September 18, ending 34 years in the position; his son Patrick, president of the paper, was appointed interim publisher but was not a candidate to succeed his father, and Patrick Stickel retired on December 30, 2009.
N. Christian Anderson III was named as the new publisher in October, and began work in the position at the beginning of November 2009. After more than 16 years as editor, Sandra Rowe retired at the end of 2009. Peter Bhatia, then executive editor, succeeded her as editor.
Layoffs of 37 in February 2010 left the paper with a total of about 750 employees, including more than 200 in the news department. In September, the newspaper announced its "TV Click" was to be replaced by TV Weekly, a publication from the Troy, Michigan
Troy, Michigan
Troy is a city in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan, and is a suburb of Detroit. The population was 80,980 at the 2010 census, making it the 11th-largest city in Michigan by population, and the largest city in Oakland County...
-based NTVB Media. Unlike "TV Click", TV Weekly requires a separate subscription fee; The Oregonian is following the example of the Houston Chronicle
Houston Chronicle
The Houston Chronicle is the largest daily newspaper in Texas, USA, headquartered in the Houston Chronicle Building in Downtown Houston. , it is the ninth-largest newspaper by circulation in the United States...
and other major newspapers and switching to "some form of 'opt in and pay' TV sections (rather than dropping the sections) and have found only about 10 percent to 20 percent of subscribers use the sections."
Targeted publications
The staff of The Oregonian also produces three "targeted publications"—glossy magazines distributed free to 40-45,000 wealthy residents of the Portland metropolitan areaPortland metropolitan area
The Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA Metropolitan Statistical Area , also known as the Portland metropolitan area or Greater Portland, is an urban area in the U.S. states of Oregon and Washington centered around the city of Portland, Oregon. The U.S...
, and sold on newsstands to 5,000 others. A fourth glossy magazine, Explore the Pearl, is produced in conjunction with the Pearl District
Pearl District, Portland, Oregon
The Pearl District is an area of Portland, Oregon, formerly occupied by warehouses, light industry and railroad classification yards and now noted for its art galleries, upscale businesses and residences. The area has been undergoing significant urban renewal since the late 1990s, including the...
Business Association, and mailed to "high-income Portland Metro households" within Lake Oswego
Lake Oswego, Oregon
Lake Oswego is a city located primarily in Clackamas County in the U.S. state of Oregon. Small portions of the city are also located in neighboring Multnomah and Washington counties. Located south of Portland surrounding the Oswego Lake, the town was founded in 1847 and incorporated as Oswego in...
, West Linn
West Linn, Oregon
West Linn is a city in Clackamas County, Oregon, United States. Now a prosperous southern suburb of Portland, West Linn has a history of early development, prompted by the opportunity to harvest energy from nearby Willamette Falls. It was named after Senator Dr. Lewis Fields Linn of Ste...
, Mountain Park, Lakeridge, Forest Heights, Raleigh Hills
Raleigh Hills, Oregon
Raleigh Hills is a census-designated place and neighborhood within the metropolitan area of Portland, Oregon, in the United States. It is located in the southwest hills in Washington County, with Beaverton to the west, West Slope to the north, and Progress and Garden Home to the south...
, Oak Hills
Oak Hills, Oregon
Oak Hills is a census-designated place in Washington County, Oregon, United States. The population was 9,050 at the 2000 census. Although not incorporated, Oak Hills is considered a neighborhood of Beaverton...
, West Hills, Dunthorpe
Dunthorpe, Oregon
Dunthorpe is an unincorporated suburb of Portland, Oregon, United States. It is located just south of the Portland city limits and north of the Multnomah County line on the west side of the Willamette River. Lewis & Clark College and Lake Oswego are nearby....
, and Clark County
Clark County, Washington
Clark County is a county located in the southwestern part of the U.S. state of Washington, across the Columbia River from Portland, Oregon.Clark County was the first county of Washington, named after William Clark of the Lewis and Clark Expedition...
.
| Magazine | Description | Copies delivered | Target household income | Website |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Explore the Pearl | A look at "all of the hot spots – retailers, restaurants and galleries – the Pearl has to offer." | 61,000 | http://www.explorethepearl.com/ | |
| Homes+Gardens Northwest | "Take[s] you inside real Northwest homes and gardens, where residents and professionals have created spaces perfect for the finest Northwest living" | 40,000 | $120,000 (median Median In probability theory and statistics, a median is described as the numerical value separating the higher half of a sample, a population, or a probability distribution, from the lower half. The median of a finite list of numbers can be found by arranging all the observations from lowest value to... ) | http://hgnorthwest.com/ |
| Mix | "Celebrates our fascination with fine food and the casual entertaining that marks the Northwest lifestyle" | 40,000 | $95,000 (median) | http://mixpdx.com/ |
| Ultimate Northwest | Captures the "experience of living the good life here in Oregon and the Northwest" | 45,000 | $164,000 (average) |
External links
- The Oregonian
- The Oregonian mobile version
- Photographs from The Oregonian on FlickrFlickrFlickr is an image hosting and video hosting website, web services suite, and online community that was created by Ludicorp in 2004 and acquired by Yahoo! in 2005. In addition to being a popular website for users to share and embed personal photographs, the service is widely used by bloggers to...
(last updated October 2009)