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Ben Botkin knows part of his job is traversing the breadth of Lane County, following the newsmakers and the issues wherever they find themselves. Just recently, Lookout’s policy and politics correspondent went to Blue River as county board members visited the community to check on the progress of recovery from the Holiday Farm Fire. It was a routine story, but one that elicited a supportive follow-up text from one of the commissioners.
“Ben, more than any reporter I’ve known, you show up.”
For Ben, and all of us at Lookout, as we reach the six-month mark of publishing, that’s an incredible accolade. Showing up is the fundamental principle that motivates us.
Lookout is all about community betterment and how our dogged reporting feeds our ability as citizens and voters to make better decisions on the issues before us. And that means our newsroom of 16 showing up all across the cities and county every day, talking with people. It means showing up at community events, from the weekly Farmers Market (right out our back door), the fall Lane County Home Improvement Show, the BRiGHT Parade and engaging with people at neighborhood group meetings and service clubs. Community journalism – in 2025 – is all about showing up.
We’ve now done that since April, and we could not have asked for a better beginning.
Now, as we lay plans for 2026, we invite you to join the thousands of locals who have already become members. Their support has meant so much, as they understand that their dollars are paying Ben and his colleagues to do their work every day. Only members now get full access to the dozens of stories we publish every week, from Annie Aguiar’s incisive culture and arts reporting and Lilly St. Angelo’s wide education reporting to Tyson Alger’s in-the-know Ducks coverage and Lillian Schrock-Clevenger’s thorough coverage of Springfield.
Sign up now and know that each and every membership fuels our ability to show up.
As a member, you’ll be in great company. Members enabled us to reach about one-third of the adults in Lane County, a remarkable number in just six months. Readers have consumed more than 2 million “page views,” finding and sharing our stories (please do so on your favorite social media). And, important to all of us, our reporting has kept government officials accountable from local ones to the governor, as our executive editor Dann MIller has summed up here.
So, join us now. And we love your emails, as you find increasing value in what our team – the second-largest local newsroom in Oregon – does for you every day.
We hope you’ll feel as satisfied as this new member wrote us last week:
“Google News showed me a link to one of your stories, about a candy store that just opened in Fifth Street Market. What’s this?? What’s Lookout? I followed the link, and, OMG. This is the local news of my dreams! Since then, I have been devouring the local reporting that I have missed so much. I am now a founding member, and I have to say thank you!”
Lane County, thank you for welcoming us. Choose from Founding Membership – your greatest vote of confidence – or annual or monthly membership.
