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It is a chance to do what we always said we would do, if we ever got the chance to do it.
That’s the phrase that came to mind, shortly after I started talking with Ken Doctor about Lookout Eugene-Springfield a few months ago.
I’ve been saying it almost every day since.
Being executive editor of a start-up like Lookout Eugene-Springfield is an opportunity few people get: To help build a new media organization unencumbered by years of old-school newspaper decision-making that, let’s face it, might not have always been the best.
As we create this new newspaper, we can learn from the past, pick the best pieces, and do our best not to replicate the missteps. Sure, we will make some missteps of our own, but those will be ours – not someone else’s.
Over a coffee or beer with colleagues, just about everyone has done it: Question decisions made by local or corporate leaders and then ruminate over how you would handle the same situation and do things differently.
Journalists are the same.
Lookout Eugene-Springfield is our chance to do it differently. The it in that sentence includes how we build the team, how we interact with the public. How we do journalism.
But, everything we do here will be done with one purpose: this community.
We have one mission at Lookout Eugene-Springfield, and that is to serve the people of Lane County with in-depth, well-reported and well-sourced journalism.
Even before our formal launch, we published a watchdog story on the Oregon State Hospital by politics and policy correspondent Ben Botkin, about how issues at the facility were called out by senior staff, months before a Lane County man died in March.
Today, Ben provides a look at the controversial proposed fire fee that would add more than $10 million to city coffers, which officials say is needed to help cover an $11.5 million budget shortfall.
The entire team, led by editor and business correspondent Sarah Lorge Butler, also pulled together a look at how Lane County is being impacted by cuts made by the federal government. This is the first story in ongoing coverage that will help local residents better understand what changes Lane County is experiencing given the Trump Administration’s new policies – how what happens in D.C. hits us at home. Ben and editor Mike McInally spoke with Oregon’s Attorney General Dan Rayfield and Speaker of the House Julie Fahey here in Eugene on Wednesday night about those cuts and what they are hearing from residents. With that ongoing series, you’ll see a “Trump 2.0 and Lane County Impacts” graphic.
We want you to stay aware of this work, and there are several ways you can remain informed: The best way is to sign up for our morning, afternoon and community newsletters or follow us on our social media platforms: Instagram, Facebook, X or BlueSky.
Lookout Eugene-Springfield is journalism that is impartial. Journalism that challenges. Journalism that celebrates. Journalism that holds those in power accountable.
Journalism that makes a difference for people who live here.
Our newsroom is still coming together, and we continue to add journalists to the team – which means the Lookout Eugene-Springfield you see June 10 will be significantly more robust in volume than what you see on our launch days.
By June, we will host about 15 full-time journalists – along with numerous contributors and freelance writers – covering Eugene, Springfield and increasingly all of Lane County. As we fill up the newsroom, you’ll see more topical areas quickly covered. And, for many of you who have asked, we will cover the Ducks and track as well.
We are all working out of a single newsroom located in the heart of downtown.
We are here every day, sharing with each other what we’ve seen and heard around town. We believe a community newspaper requires people talking with people – those of us in the newsroom talking with business and community members. We will host an ongoing series of Lookout Listens sessions where we invite you to come and talk with us about what you want to see us cover. Want to join a Lookout Listens session? Shoot me an email at dann@lookoutlocal.com, and we’ll be sure you are added to the list.
Being here, every day, is an important part of our mission. The pandemic forced us to learn how to work remotely, but the newsroom was always the heartbeat of a newspaper, filled with robust debate, a fair amount of cursing, and nonstop discussions of journalism.
It’s that heartbeat that hooked me on journalism when I was just 15.
I am very excited to be a small part of Lookout Eugene-Springfield. I am even more excited to see the response we have received and the responses still to come.
There are likely many of you who have thoughts on what we should cover and opinions on what is happening in the community. Tell us both. Help us build Lookout Eugene-Springfield into an organization that represents this community, as well as covers this community.
Help us do the thing we always said we would do, if we ever got the chance to do it.
