Starting last year, The Oregonian turned its investigative spotlight on itself. The result was Publishing Prejudice, a disturbing look at the news organization’s history of racism in its reporting and its editorial advocacy.
A recent installment covered The Oregonian’s reporting after the 1948 Vanport Flood, and in particular its failure to humanize its disproportionate impact on city’s Black residents.
People displaced by the flood moved into Portland’s Albina district. But in the years that followed, The Oregonian cheered on the systematic destruction of the district, which had become the heart of Black Portland. One publicly funded project after the next — Interstate 5, Veterans Memorial Coliseum, the headquarters for Portland Public School — forced out hundreds of Black residents.
On this episode of Beat Check with The Oregonian, reporter Rob Davis interviews Sharon Gary-Smith, who was displaced from her home in the Albina district in 1961. She discussed what it was like to return to the street where she grew up, the types of word choices The Oregonian made and what she wants to see from the newspaper going forward.

The Publishing Prejudice series

Letter from the Editor: An update on newsroom diversity initiatives


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