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A nonprofit news initiative announced this evening seeks to counteract the decline of investigative and watchdog reporting across the state of Oregon.
The Oregon Journalism Project will launch in the fall of 2024, announced Mark Zusman, the longtime editor and co-owner of Willamette Week. “The project is a response to the statewide decline of local news in general, and impactful investigative journalism in particular, over the past quarter century,” Zusman said in remarks made today.
That decline is devastating the Beaver State. One in four of Oregon’s small-town newspapers have closed. Nearly 70% of the state’s incorporated cities—and three entire counties—lack a local news source.
In response, Oregon Journalism Project will report on state and local government across the state, with an emphasis outside the Portland metro area. OJP will provide its stories free of charge to partner newspapers from Tillamook to Ontario. (So far, 18 newspapers have joined the partnership.) The nonprofit model was pioneered by other statewide civic newsrooms in states such as Pennsylvania and New Mexico.
Zusman, who has co-owned WW for more than 40 years, will step down as the newspaper’s editor early in 2025 to become founder and director of OJP. At the same time, WW reporter Nigel Jaquiss, a winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting, will transition from his role at the newspaper to lead the newsroom of OJP. Peter Bragdon, a onetime journalist, longtime executive at Columbia Sportswear, and vice chairman of the board at Oregon Community Foundation, has been named OJP’s board president.
“We’ve seen time and again that great journalism can change the course of history for the better, and the absence of it leads to an inexcusable lack of accountability,” Bragdon said in a statement. “Oregon has been known for being a laboratory for innovative public policy, while also developing a reputation for poor results and failed leadership. I don’t think it is a coincidence that we have seen more of the latter as the economics of journalism have collapsed and the media spotlight has been fading in the state.”
He added: “Effective journalism is the one key ingredient for holding leaders accountable, keeping citizens informed about critical issues, and creating an environment for better results from our public institutions. And I say that as a person who has been on the sharp end of Nigel’s pen.”
Other board members include former Oregon Secretary of State Phil Keisling, Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Sheryl WuDunn, and Oregon business and civic leader John von Schlegell of Klamath County.
As a nonprofit, Zusman said, OJP will be funded primarily by donations. He pledged to make public the names of all donors who give a total of $5,000 or more per year.
That list of donors will soon be found on OJP’s website, where the newsroom will also begin publishing stories this fall. Its initial projects will also appear in the pages of newspapers across the state, including WW.