Portland has more local reporters than national average
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Multnomah County has roughly 10 full-time local reporters for every 100,000 people, according to a new project from Muck Rack and Rebuild Local News.
Why it matters: Even though that number is nowhere near enough people to cover everything happening in our communities, it's higher than the national average.
- But the same cannot be said for the rest of Oregon or even the rest of the Portland metro area.
By the numbers: Nationwide, there are 8.2 "local journalist equivalents" (LJEs) for every 100,000 people, down 75% from 2002 on average.
- Clackamas County has 5.3 LJEs per 100,000 people, while Washington County has just 4.8 LJEs. Statewide, Oregon has 9.3 LJEs per 100,000 people, coming in at 24th nationwide, according to the report.
- Washington D.C. ranks first with 37.4 and New Jersey ranks last with 5.1.
How it works: The findings are based on Muck Rack data about journalists and media outlets nationwide as of the first quarter of 2025, used to show reporters "most likely covering local communities."
- Among other steps, the authors adjusted the number of overall journalists in each county to account for part-timers, as well as those who work for big-city outlets but sometimes cover suburban affairs.
- The result is the "local journalist equivalent" — a metric similar to "full-time equivalent" — which accounts for part-timers when measuring the size of a workforce. (Read more about the methodology.)
State of play: Layoffs of journalists have been rampant across Oregon in recent years and some outlets have shut down completely or moved their operations online.
- In Ashland, the local newspaper shuttered in 2023, only for its website to reemerge populated by articles written by artificial intelligence with fake bylines, according to an investigation by OPB.
Threat level: A 2024 study found that the closure of local newspapers, which often serve as watchdogs for elected officials, correlated with an increase in corruption charges.
What's next: The situation is unlikely to get better any time soon after Congress voted to claw back $1.1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and National Public Radio, which help fund local stations across the nation.
- "The gutting of federal funding for public broadcasters is expected to cause hundreds of local station groups to significantly scale back or shutter across the country," Axios' Sara Fischer reports.