Summer update from OPB

Post date: Jul 23, 2020

Whether you answer phones during membership drives, assist in the office, or create content, your contributions help make OPB the robust public media organization it is today. We'd like to acknowledge the significant impact of your hard work and dedication.

Steve Bass, OPB President and CEO, shares the following…

Last week, OPB editor Ryan Haas suggested to reporters Jonathan Levinson and Conrad Wilson that they interview people arrested while protesting in downtown Portland. At the time, they had no idea that they would break one of the biggest national stories of the month.

The story revealed that federal law enforcement officers, in camouflage and without identification, were arresting protesters off the street using unmarked vehicles. After we published the story on Thursday afternoon, the reporting spread quickly.

The Washington Post, BBC and other media wrote stories based on OPB’s original reporting and NPR shared the story on national broadcasts. Jonathan and Conrad were interviewed on CNN, MSNBC, and the PBS NewsHour. By 5pm on Friday, more than 1.2 million people had read the story on the OPB website, our largest number ever for a single story.

As many of you know, OPB has been expanding the news team to provide increasingly robust local news coverage. Some of you are involved directly in our local journalism, and many of you contribute indirectly through the work you do. Now, people across the country are benefiting from this collective effort.

And when the community needs a respite from the news of the day, you contribute to a plethora of options. At a time when many are staying home, the music, arts, and cultural content supported by, and often created by, volunteers has never been more important.

So, if you’re missing going to art galleries, need a nature break, or want to explore some new music, we encourage you to check out what OPB has to offer, thanks in large part to you.