Four years ago, as the number of reporters covering statehouses continued shrinking, two news organizations started working together to cover state government in Oregon.
Now, they’re adding a third.
The Salem Reporter, which launched online in September, joins Pamplin Media Group and EO Media Group. Pamplin publishes the Portland Tribune and 24 other newspapers and EO publishes the East Oregonian and 10 other newspapers. Together, they’re forming the Oregon Capital Bureau. Les Zaitz, editor of Salem Reporter and the Malheur Enterprise and a longtime investigative reporter in the state, will manage the team.
After watching collaborations around the country, Zaitz said, he recognized the power of working together for newsrooms with limited resources. It’s what led the two publishers to start working together in the first place, said Mark Garber, president of Pamplin Media Group.
“We can do a lot more together than if we were trying to compete with each other to try to provide the same in-depth coverage and get people to pay for the service or sponsor the service,” he said.
The collaboration adds a third reporter to the team. For Zaitz, it gives his brand new newsroom access to a statewide audience. For the other newsrooms, he said, it adds metabolism to what they’re already doing and the chance to get even more aggressive with what they’re covering.
Oregon Capital Bureau will offer its work for free to newsrooms that don’t compete with the three news organizations, said Joseph Beach, editor and publisher of the Capital Press of
Read more here: https://www.poynter.org/news/oregon-three-news-organizations-are-teaming-cover-state-government
