Letter from the Editor: We’re investing in business news
Last 12 months about this time, we launched on a challenge to glimpse at the problems confronting downtown Portland after (we’d hoped) the height of the pandemic and protests. That undertaking, “Downtown in Distress,” integrated reporting on homelessness, the temper of downtown residents and the troubles for stores, as very well as results from an independent poll.
The delta and omicron variants threw a wrench in anticipations for a speedy return to usual in 2021. And just a week in the past, more lousy news. A longtime retailer, Margulis Jewelers, announced it was closing its landmark downtown retail outlet.
“Customers are hesitant to occur downtown to store,” proprietor David Margulis said in a information launch. “Employees choose not to work downtown.”
It’s clear that far more than two decades into the pandemic, Portland has substantial economic troubles. And The Oregonian/OregonLive carries on to devote in business reporting.
“We’re mobilizing about a goal to cover all areas of Oregonians’ economical life, from the consequences of the point out and national financial system, to browsing for merchandise and products and services, to housing, personalized finance, and perform lifetime,” stated Elliot Njus, who sales opportunities our Organization & Economy team.
Njus formerly coated actual estate/housing, transportation and other subjects. Most a short while ago, he led the growth of podcasts for our newsroom.
Protection of two significant corporations in our area falls to veteran organization reporters Mike Rogoway and Jeff Manning.
Rogoway is Oregon’s indispensable study for news about Intel, a single of the state’s major private employers. At the get started of the pandemic, he just about singlehandedly birddogged the troubles the Oregon Work Section had getting jobless rewards to Oregonians.
With politics reporter Hillary Borrud in 2020, he broke the tale of how Oregon’s failure to waive a week’s hiatus right before benefits began would value Oregonians much more than $100 million in federal reduction. The governor rapidly vowed to remove the “waiting week.”
Rogoway, who has a master’s of business administration from College of Washington, also addresses engineering, program and associated companies. He keeps an eye on rising corporations as properly, this sort of as Dutch Bros, the travel-through coffee chain that experienced its original general public providing very last calendar year.
Manning addresses Nike, as nicely as related providers and the intersection of sports and enterprise. He also reports on well being care companies and specializes in investigative operate with an eye toward white collar criminal offense.
Jamie Goldberg, who had included the Portland Timbers/Thorns and the Portland Trail Blazers for us, transferred to business when sports shut down at the commence of the pandemic in 2020. She has expended the past two decades masking the unemployed, the plight of tenants and landlords, and the struggles and successes of little enterprises.
Goldberg, who has a master’s degree in journalism from University of California, Berkeley, is also a breaking news editor section of the 7 days.
Another relative newcomer to the group is Jayati Ramakrishnan, who joined The Oregonian/OregonLive in 2019 from the Hermiston Herald. She started out on the breaking news staff but now covers transportation and housing. She is a graduate of the University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communications.
Just this thirty day period, we’ve added even a lot more reporting firepower. Kristine de Leon addresses retail, tiny business and other business tendencies for us, this sort of as her current explainer on why gasoline rates change so substantially depending on which Oregon county you are in.
De Leon was pursuing a Ph.D. in microbiology ahead of catching the reporting bug. She gained her master’s in journalism from University of Southern California. She is experienced in data investigation, coding and web development, which will provide her perfectly as she explores enterprise and economic traits.
When I started off at The Oregonian in 1983, the Company division, like the relaxation of the newsroom, was predominantly staffed by adult men. What number of women reporters we experienced have been mainly in the attributes section, writing for the Residing section. It’s good to have a staff of Organization reporters with such numerous daily life encounters, views and passions.
The team’s work is supplemented by other reporters, these as Ted Sickinger, who handles forestry and utilities Borrud, who studies on point out government and politics and Shane Dixon Kavanaugh, who is on the Portland Town Hall defeat.
We know fascination in enterprise matters is solid. We can see that by means of the significant numbers of people who examine content on OregonLive and stick to us on social media (On Twitter, @OregonianBiz has the 2nd greatest pursuing just after our principal account). You can indication up for our Oregon Small business Insights e-newsletter at oregonlive.com/newsletters.
The Oregonian/OregonLive’s employees still left our downtown offices and went to remote operate March 17, 2020. This spring, we hope some journalists will return to our workplaces along Southwest To start with Avenue and other individuals will keep on to do the job remotely. I hope to see our reporters and editors back traveling to workplaces, masking gatherings, and meeting resources for coffee facial area to facial area, just as frequently as we applied to. I’m seeking forward to expending far more of my time in our downtown newsroom all over again.
Observe: Longtime Oregon civic chief Gerry Frank was asked to generate a column for The Oregonian back in 1988. His column, named “Friday Surprise” following the Meier & Frank profits by that identify, appeared in the A section for a lot of several years.
Far more recently, in the options segment, his popular monthly column highlighted Oregon travel and eating prospective clients for visitors. Frank died March 13 at age 98. We know visitors will overlook his informative ideas and insights, as will we.
