The Oregonian Editorial Board Will Now Be Run by a Portland Moderate

Laura Gunderson will report to the paper's top editor—a significant change in the paper's structure.

Even a casual observer of Oregon media knows The Oregonian's editorial page has in recent years been at odds with Portland's liberal orthodoxy.

Under previous editorial page editor Erik Lukens, the paper's opinion writing won a 2014 Pulitzer Prize for its often-scathing work on the Public Employees Retirement System.

Under Lukens, the page developed a reputation for a libertarian point of view, fought with Portland City Hall at every opportunity, and often frustrated the newsroom, where reporters blamed the the editorial page for alienating readers even as the paper's owners chopped staff.

That makes the selection last week of Oregonian investigative reporter Laura Gunderson, 43, as Lukens' successor all the more interesting.

"She is a lifelong Oregonian who basically grew up in our newsroom, and I think her deep community connections will serve her well in this role," says Oregonian Editor Mark Katches, who appointed Gunderson. "I'm also thrilled to see a woman chairing the editorial board and overseeing the editorial pages for the first time in our 166 year history."

But Gunderson's appointment is significant for other reasons.

First, she likely represents a significant ideological shift. Two Oregonian veterans who worked alongside Gunderson describe her as a moderate Democrat whose political views are closer to Portland's than were Lukens' conservative leanings. (Lukens, who came to The Oregonian from the Bend Bulletin, returned to the Bulletin Aug. 1 as the paper's top editor.)

Gunderson says her views will be informed by several perspectives.

"Having grown up here, I do feel that I have a strong sense of what matters most to Oregonians," she tells WW. "I'm a Portland girl, for sure, I grew up—and still live—in inner Northeast Portland, my two young children attend a public school, I often bike to work and I killed my knees last night playing futsal.

"At the same time," she adds, "I have spent a significant amount of time in Southern and Eastern Oregon and feel it's important that those of us living in urban areas work harder to understand the issues faced by our fellow Oregonians living in the more rural and often more economically challenged reaches of our state."

A second reason why Gunderson's selection marks a sea change: Katches chose her, and she'll be reporting to him.

That marks a structural change at The Oregonian, where Lukens operated independently of the newsroom and reported to the paper's publisher, rather than to its editor. (It also means you should expect no decrease in Oregonian editorials praising Oregonian reporting.)

Gunderson says her editorial writers will remain autonomous—but will discuss stories with reporters.

"We have returned to an organizational structure under which the editorial pages editor reports to the executive editor," she says, "the system that was in place for many years under [former Editor] Sandy Rowe. The editorial writers will retain the independence that an editorial section should have."

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