How do you get your news? Oregon News Exploration Conducts Survey In the Gorge

By Cole Goodwin

John Schrag, Co-Founder of Oregon News Exploration

The Dalles, Ore. December 5, 2023 – Oregon News Exploration is working with local news outlets and community leaders to get a sense of where Gorge residents get the local information they need.

Oregon News Exploration has been hosted a series of focus groups in English and Spanish, meeting in Hood River, The Dalles and White Salmon as a part of their research to find out the challenges and opportunities facing news in the Columbia River Gorge.

They are also conducting an online survey to help them better understand the challenges and opportunities involved in local news.

Want to make your voice heard? Take the survey at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/RZBYJMP

What Oregon News Exploration’s Learned So Far:

Oregon News Exploration’s research draws a clear line from the decline of journalism in Oregon communities to a crisis of confidence in the institutions that impact their daily lives. This link is particularly evident among rural and BIPOC Oregonians. Here are some key findings:

Oregonians value and rely on local news, but many see bias and neglect

News consumers in Oregon, like those elsewhere, are still most likely to get information about their communities from local media outlets. They trust those sources of information more than people in other regions of the country. That trust increases in places where local journalists are present and visible. Yet many Oregonians equate declining news coverage as bias over what to cover and misunderstand the economic forces at work. Others say Oregon media often misconstrue their political views, economic status, race, ethnicity or gender. A troubling finding: Oregonians tell us that they are habituated to misinformation, expressing a passive acceptance that is deeply worrisome as the state’s information ecosystem erodes.

Oregon journalists see compounding problems but few solutions

In-depth interviews with Oregon journalists revealed deep concerns about their ability to secure a fact-based narrative in the communities they serve. The deterioration of local news is driving readers toward national and increasingly polarizing forums and — in the absence of local objective, factual reporting — disinformation and misinformation are thriving on platforms such as Nextdoor and Facebook Local.

In October, the Agora Journalism Center published a detailed and disturbing assessment of “Oregon’s News & Information Ecosystem” showing that these problematic news “deserts,” based on geography, are growing, particularly in rural Oregon and the edges of suburbia. And across the state, gaps are widening in the coverage of key topics, ranging from climate change and public safety to health care and public schools.

BIPOC communities face additional challenges

Our statewide surveys found that Oregonians of color were less likely than white Oregonians to feel that local media represented them or report having a positive interaction with a local news outlet. And, they were far more likely to recall an important event in their community that was not covered by the local media.

Meanwhile, some legacy news organizations serving BIPOC communities are in their twilight years and young BIPOC journalists are not finding other, established media as capable of stewarding the historic and evolving mission of the ethnic press. Those issues are exacerbated by barriers to diversity and inclusive coverage inside legacy Oregon newsrooms, most of which are disproportionately staffed by white journalists with leaders who are struggling to change that. As a result, many journalists of color are striking out on their own in Oregon but lack resources and support for their work. Others are leaving the state or the profession.

In short, our research shows a clear and escalating pattern of fracturing communities

As information ecosystems collapse, national media is filling the void with increasingly polarizing narratives about our world, and social media is gaining tremendous ground, allowing misinformation to thrive. Whole communities are being excluded from a truthful common narrative of Oregon. The challenges are profound and grow more so every month without a strong, united response. Fortunately, the Oregon News Exploration’s research also indicates a willingness among Oregon news media to innovate, work together and engage more deeply with communities to stem this troubling tide.