Inside OPB

The Oregon Community Foundation and OPB Partner to Strengthen Statewide News Coverage

Updated: September 06, 2012

The Oregon Community Foundation (OCF) and Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB) are pleased to announce a $300,000 commitment from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation to strengthen sources of statewide journalism and engage citizens in major issues faced across Oregon.

The grant is awarded through the Knight Foundation’s Community Information Challenge, which works to involve community and place-based foundations in meeting local information needs. The two-year project will develop a content-sharing network linking local newspapers and news organizations across the region, and engage communities across the state in the newsgathering process using OPB’s central and southern Oregon reporting bureaus as focus areas.

OCF and OPB share a strong commitment to build a better-informed and more engaged citizenry in Oregon, and to bridge rural and urban communities – which are both goals of the project.

”This partnership will help ensure that every community has access to good information about issues of local concern as well as issues that affect the entire state,” said Max Williams, president and CEO of OCF. “And good information is critical to all of our efforts to improve life in Oregon.”

The collaborative news network developed through the project will allow OPB and news organizations throughout the region to more actively share stories. In the startup phase, OPB stories have appeared in local newspapers in print and online, including The Dalles Chronicle and the Salem Statesman Journal. Through the network, local newspapers’ stories appear on OPB’s news website, and stories are shared on a peer-to-peer basis. For example, an article of interest from the Medford Mail-Tribune might appear in the print and online editions of the Daily Astorian.

“Developing stronger statewide and region-wide reporting is one of OPB’s major priorities, and this project helps us take a major step forward,” said Steve Bass, president and CEO of OPB.

OCF is the formal recipient of the Knight Foundation grant, and plays an important role by leveraging its volunteer and partner networks throughout the state. In order to bring these new resources to Oregon, OPB and OCF need to raise matching support from people and organizations across the state. More information on the project and how to participate and contribute is available at http://www.oregoncf.org/one-oregon.

About OCF
The mission of The Oregon Community Foundation is to improve life in Oregon and promote effective philanthropy. OCF works with individuals, families, businesses and organizations to create charitable funds to support the community causes they care about. Through these funds, OCF awarded more than $86 million in grants and scholarships in 2011.

About OPB
OPB delivers excellence in public broadcasting to 1.5 million people each week through television, radio and the Internet. Widely recognized as a national leader in the public broadcasting arena, OPB is a major contributor to the program schedule that serves the entire country. OPB is one of the most used and most supported public broadcasting services in the country and is generously supported by 115,000 contributors.

About the Knight Foundation
The Knight Foundation supports transformational ideas that promote quality journalism, advance media innovation, engage communities and foster the arts. The foundation believes that democracy thrives when people and communities are informed and engaged. For more, visit KnightFoundation.org.