Meet the 2020 SPJ Oregon board candidates. Vote by Oct. 10!
SPJ Oregon is governed by an eight member volunteer board that meets at least once a month by phone. The board elects its own president, vice president, secretary and treasurer at the first meeting of the year.
Starting this year, SPJ Oregon is transitioning to two-year board terms, with half the board elected each year. For the 2020 election only, candidates must declare their interest in either a two-year or a one-year term. The top four vote-getters in each category will be elected to the board.
Ballots will be emailed to all current SPJ Greater Oregon members on Tuesday, Oct. 6 by 5 p.m. Voting closes at 8 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 10. If you are a current member and did not receive a ballot or want to join SPJ in order to vote, please email spjoregon@gmail.com for help.
Here are the candidates’ statements.
ONE-YEAR TERMS
April Ehrlich
One-year term
I'm currently a board member of SPJ Oregon and I'm running for an additional term. I'm a reporter with Jefferson Public Radio, the NPR member station for Southern Oregon and Northern California. I've also worked as a reporter with the Roseburg News-Review, the Ontario Argus Observer and the Payette (Idaho) Independent-Enterprise. I graduated from Cal-State University Fullerton with a Bachelors in English, where I was features editor of the Daily Titan.
As a board member of SPJ Oregon, I have helped redesign our website and launch training and fundraiser events. I'd like to continue contributing to the impressive work that SPJ Oregon does to protect and defend journalism in our region.
Henry Houston
One-year term
Henry Houston covers politics, activism and the arts for Eugene Weekly as well as serving as web editor. He was previously editor of, and the lone reporter for, the Springfield Times. He started his career in journalism in community college and continued reporting while pursuing his master’s degree in International Studies at the University of Oregon.
His experiences in student, alt-weekly and community journalism reflect the backgrounds of many journalists and student journalists in Oregon. If elected, he will increase SPJ Oregon’s outreach to community colleges, as well as continue its robust work on public records.
Houston was struck with a tear gas canister thrown by a police officer while doing his job as a journalist. This experience — similar to other reporters who have been arrested, injured or targeted by the police while doing their jobs — solidified his desire to run for the Oregon SPJ board and aid in its work protecting reporters’ First Amendment rights.
Jade McDowell
One-year term
I've worked as an Oregon journalist since 2011, after graduating from Brigham Young University with a bachelor's degree in print journalism. I spent two years at The Dalles Chronicle covering education and county government before taking a job with the East Oregonian in August 2013, covering education and city government for the Hermiston bureau. That newsroom was eventually combined with the Hermiston Herald, also owned by EO Media Group, and in January 2019 I became news editor of the Herald while also continuing to write articles for both newspapers. Today, due to COVID-19 budget cuts, I am the sole member of the Hermiston newsroom.
I'm interested in running for the SPJ board because I would like to get more involved in the wider journalism community in Oregon. I also think it is important for the board to have representation on the east side of the state.
Cory Elia
One-year term
I am a multimedia news journalist. My reportings usually focuses on homelessness, politics, and protests. As such I have been reporting on some of the most violent protests for nearly 3 years now. Most recently I've been reporting on the Portland protests. The amount of disrespect and brutality shown towards members of the free press by officers has emboldened me to speak up about it on more than one occasion. It has shown me that the free press isn't as free as it should be. I am applying for this position because I feel that this situation needs to be addressed. I've been subjected to too much tear gas, crowd control munitions, and personal assaults this summer to not want to speak up. Journalism is more than just my passion it's my life.
Sergio Olmos
One-year term
I am running to represent freelancers and journalists of color. I dropped out of community college and entered journalism with no connections. I’ve since freelanced for Latterly Magazine, Investigate West, Reveal, The Portland Tribune, The Columbian, Crosscut, The Portland Mercury, Willamette Week, and The New York Times. I currently work for OPB.
If elected I plan to use my board seat to look out for freelancers and journalists of color. My first priority is to look out for the safety of freelancers. Covering the protest in Portland I saw firsthand how freelancers without institutional backing were targeted and vulnerable.
My second priority would be to find ways for SPJ to help freelancers and journalists of color that want to get into or stay in journalism.
Francis O’Leary
One-year term
I’m a third-year student at the University of Oregon’s School of Journalism and Communication. Most of my journalistic experience is from the Daily Emerald. In January 2020, I created the Emerald Trust Project, an initiative to build public trust in news media. This past summer, I served as interim editor in chief of the Emerald and am now the managing editor. I’ve previously done arts and culture writing for Oregon Music News.
I want to serve on the board of the SPJ because I believe in journalism and its role in society. I also recognize that the industry has ignored and silenced people in the past, and that it’s our duty to rectify that. I’ve previously organized trainings as part of the ETP and would bring those skills to the board. I’ve also organized events to bring journalists and community members together to talk about community issues.
Chas Hundley
One-year term
Chas Hundley is the owner, publisher, and editor of the Gales Creek Journal and Banks Post in northwest Oregon. His first serious foray into journalism was launching a news publication when he was 18 years old; he’s since grown that publication into a small media company with one weekly newspaper, two news websites, and a regional online magazine dedicated to the Tillamook Forest, among other publications. He lives with his wife and cat in the shadow of Gales Peak, a small mountain in Washington County that was struck by a meteorite in the early 2000s, according to local legend.
He would like to continue his work in the Greater Oregon SPJ chapter, advocating for rural newsrooms, ensuring that Oregon’s public records laws allow journalists to access the records needed to be a watchdog on local government, and supporting journalists through the SPJ layoff fund and public records small grants program.
TWO-YEAR TERMS
Caitlyn May
Two-year term
Caitlyn May is an education and city hall reporter for the Albany Democrat-Herald and works to report on the communities often left behind by news organizations. As a member of the board over the last year, she has started work on a survey for journalists of color in the state to recognize how newsrooms can better develop the ability to retain journalists of color as well as bringing forward two programs that have impacted journalists directly: the journalist furlough/layoff fund that gives $100 to journalists in need of a financial stop gap--a program that has now been replicated at SPJ chapters across the country, as well as a counseling program that offers free hours to journalists in need of mental and emotional health treatment. It's her goal to continue using her position on the board to bring more programs to journalists that address their needs directly.
John Rudoff
Two-year term
I am a freelance still photojournalist, covering news, political events, entertainment and music, and doing documentary work. I publish primarily via New York City’s Sipa-USA (which feeds to AP, where my work is freely available for your inspection at AP Images), but I have also worked on assignment for other international outlets and agencies. I’ve been an Oregonian for thirty years.
Though I began photojournalism education at Syracuse’ Newhouse School, my work life went through academic humanities and medicine before returning to full-time photojournalism six years ago. I have served several terms as president of my rowing club and as the public member of the Oregon State Bar’s disciplinary committee.
My particular interests, in the context of SPJ, include journalist safety and access (both physical and research) to do our work; increasing financial security by new types of income-streams; and maintaining old-fashioned norms of work integrity.
Katy Sword
Two-year term
As a current SPJ board member, I'm incredibly proud of the work we've achieved in the last year. We started a layoff fund to provide microgrants to journalists impacted by the shrinking news industry and COVID-19 and successfully raised additional funds to expand the program. We've advocated for transparency and access to public records. And as necessitated by protests across the state, we've pushed leaders to address the mistreatment of journalists by police.
My background is in community journalism and I'm running again for the SPJ Board to continue serving our community as an advocate and to continue this important work.
Jody Lawrence-Turner
Two-year term
I've spent nearly 25 years as a print journalist in the Northwest covering a wide variety of topics and now work as a senior editor at The (Bend) Bulletin.
When I was elected to the board to fill a vacant position, I had goals for bringing training to Central Oregon, organizing public forums to discuss the importance of fair/balanced media and teaching K-12 students how to read the news and know the difference between truth and rumor. COVID stymied those efforts.
If I'm elected to the board, this time for a 2-year term, I will again pursue those efforts, whether that means a conference in Central Oregon or gathering people for a virtual event.
Additionally, I want to do more to advocate for SPJ memberships. The organization is doing amazing work on behalf of journalists, and I believe we can grow membership by making sure efforts are realized.
Rachel Alexander
Two-year term
I've served as president of SPJ Oregon for the past year, during which I brought together a coalition of media organizations around the state to get a dedicated attorney stationed in Oregon through Reporter's Committee for Freedom of the Press. Our application was one of five selected from around the U.S. and has given Oregon reporters access to legal assistance as they battle arrests and assaults while doing their jobs. My hope in the coming year is to guide our lobbying and advocacy efforts in Salem, with a focus on legislation to make fee waivers on public records easier to obtain, improve media access during wildfires and make public health data more accessible.