Vote for Your 2023 SPJ Oregon Board Members
Our nine-member board of volunteers meets monthly to plan events, such as the annual regional contest, training opportunities and fundraisers to fund our lobbying efforts in Salem and internships. You’ll have a hand in deciding which projects we focus on, and which policies we’d like to address to best support journalists in our region.
SPJ Oregon's board also has a seat reserved for journalism faculty members and students. We encourage any college student actively studying or participating in journalism — whether or not your school has a journalism program — to apply for the seat. This board member serves a one-year term.
Ballots will be sent to SPJ Oregon chapter members via email, and the election runs through Sept. 22.
Education Board Seat
There is one education board seat up for election; one-year term.
Harrison Cande
Insofar as the hunger to utilize journalism to promote a more informed and inclusive decision-making populace is concerned, I believe that I possess skills which can contribute to the Board’s ability to perpetuate the values of accuracy, social responsibility, and progress. As News Editor at Linn-Benton's Commuter and a staff writer at Oregon State’s Orange Media, I have experience in working with professional journalists and a desire to recognize excellence in journalism.
My work has explored the travails of undocumented migrants in their attempts to cross the U.S.-Mexico border, bringing awareness to the lives lost in the desert and the perilous journeys they undertake in search of a better life. I am currently working on a feature about the experiences of international transfer students with respect to the obstacles and triumphs they encounter when arriving at Oregon State. My core value of inclusion seeks to give a voice to those marginalized in society. When those who are on the fringes of life and society are heard and brought to the public’s awareness, great progress can be made. This, I can give.
Laura Taylor
As a student journalist with two years of experience, I've come to recognize the profound importance of using one's voice to drive change. My journey in journalism began during my time at Tigard High School where I was fully immersed in covering various stories, including local protests, updates within the school district, and policies affecting our school community. In many instances, I found myself as the sole reporter addressing these issues, often serving as the primary source of information for our community when it came to developments in the local education system. Through my reporting, I discovered the substantial value that journalism holds within our society. I also learned the strong importance of ensuring free speech and the practice of the first amendment.
Now hired with The Daily Barometer at Oregon State University, I am immensely grateful for the opportunity to continue reporting. I am also an advocate for ethical journalism, and am strongly aligned with the mission of the Society of Professional Journalists. I wholeheartedly support the work being done at the Oregon chapter of the SPJ and would love to positively contribute as a board member. Please consider me and my candidacy for the student board position
General Board Seat
There are four board seats up for election; two-year terms.
Ben Botkin
I am a journalist in Salem with a penchant for digging deep and making public officials nervous. I cover state government for the Oregon Capital Chronicle, writing about the intersection of criminal justice, health and human services.
My passions are dogged beat reporting and watchdog journalism. I am eager to support SPJ Oregon’s mission, whether through pushing for open government or helping plan projects that increase our skills.
My 20-year career spans a range of experiences and media outlets. That includes nonprofits like the Capital Chronicle and The Lund Report and legacy outlets like the Statesman Journal in Salem and The Bulletin in Bend.
Prior to arriving in Oregon nearly five years ago, I covered state government in Idaho, Nevada and Oklahoma. As a result, I’ve scrutinized a colorful mix of government officials and written stories that led to three indictments. I’ve also seen Oregon officials expand health coverage for children in response to my work.
Turbo-charged, deeply reported journalism changes lives and impacts our communities.
And, I believe journalism is a public service. We can always improve our craft, reach our audience in new ways and prod Oregon agencies for more transparency.
Let’s do this together.
Em Chan
I'm a food reporter for the Salem Statesman Journal and newer member of the SPJ Oregon chapter. In the last two years since I joined the industry, I found myself looking for resources and networking opportunities everywhere. Fellow Oregon journalists have been extremely beneficial to learn from, and I would like to be a part of growing the effort by the SPJ to do more community building activities, including tying in other journalist-adjacent affinity groups like AAJA. I also know there are other areas of opportunity, especially geared toward newer journalists, that I can offer my insight to for planning workshops and other events. I hope my previous participation within Portland's AAJA chapter, Employee Resource Groups within the Gannett network and prior organizing experience shows I would be fit to join the SPJ Oregon Board. Thank you for your consideration.
Yasser MArte
I am a photojournalist for the East Oregonian newspaper and regional photographer for EO Media Group. As a photojournalist, my job is to communicate news through a lens. Photojournalism allows readers to envision humane moments when covering personal profiles, local issues and events that reflect their community. As a board member I would want to be a voice in that particular field of reporting and take opportunities to not only help out other photojournalists but also reporters who are interested in expanding to that medium.
The Society of Professional Journalists is an incredible organization that helps the news community preserve our First Amendment right to the freedom of press. One of the most important aspects of SPJ is how you encourage students to work in the field, including myself when I was attending Florida International University, and I would love to be part of an organization that hosts workshops and conferences to help inspire the next generation of journalists. I want to be a part of an organization that reaches out to reporters already working in the field and students who have an interest in stepping into professional journalism, that’s why I would love to run for a seat on the board of SPJ Oregon.
Colin Miner
In my more than 30 years in the news business, I’ve reported for all sorts of outlets - from a weekly newspaper in New York to the New York Times, from KOIN to the Oregonian, from radio to magazines to online to television to print.
While there are many things I learned while reporting, the most important lesson I learned in journalism is the need to cooperate rather than compete.
I’m not saying don’t compete, don’t seek out scoops.
Remember that we’re in a troubled business and we’re all in it together.
As a member of the national team at Patch, I created a partnership program that saw Patch working with organizations as small as newsrooms of three or four to large national groups including Consumer Reports, ProPublica, and more.
If elected to the board my mission would be to foster cooperation and survival. The news business is under threat and we need to work together.
Jayati Ramakrishnan
In the past two years I've assisted with planning the SPJ conference and contributing to our fundraisers. I bring experience from reporting in both urban and rural parts of Oregon, and I hope to continue to use those experiences to support reporters from all over the state. We work in a challenging profession with a high level of burnout, so of particular interest for me is encouraging young journalists as they try to get their start in the industry. I've done this as a mentor for the High School Journalism Institute and through facilitating a panel on mentorship at last year's SPJ conference. I'm proud of the work SPJ Oregon has done and I'm eager to contribute to it again.
K. Rambo
I’m a Portland-based journalist and editor in chief of the nonprofit investigative outlet Street Roots. As the current Oregon SPJ vice president, I would cherish the opportunity to serve another term on the board. When I ran in 2021, I discussed my desire to increase representation and dialogue around marginalized communities on the board and its events, including trans people and homeless Oregonians. I also spoke about my interest in advocating for better government transparency and public record laws.
Since joining the board in 2021, I organized conference panels on Indigenous affairs and homelessness coverage, I took part in an effort to create an Office of the Transparency Advocate in Portland’s city government, and I put pressure on local, county and state officials to properly follow public records and meetings laws.
I am fortunate to have taken steps toward accomplishing the goals I listed when I ran in 2021, and it would be an honor to further them throughout another term on the board in service of our chapter’s excellent journalists and the public.
Julia Shumway
I'm the deputy editor of the Oregon Capital Chronicle, a nonprofit news organization founded in 2021 to fill a growing gap in state government and political coverage as corporate outlets cut back. Since December, I've also served as president of the Oregon Legislative Correspondents Association, or Capitol press corps, leading the group's efforts to maintain and expand access to the Legislature, governor and state agencies.
I first came to Oregon in 2017 to cover city government for The Bulletin after a stint chronicling the Nebraska Legislature for the AP. While a statehouse reporting gig in Arizona lured me away in 2019, I always hoped to return to Oregon and was thrilled to help launch the Capital Chronicle two years ago.
My experience in Bend, as well as in small newsrooms in Iowa, Nebraska and Arizona, highlighted the disparities in training and networking opportunities available to journalists at large metro outlets and those at smaller publications. SPJ Oregon has done a good job of providing useful training sessions at annual conferences and on occasion virtually or at smaller regional events, but we can do more to make those resources widely available. If elected, I plan to work with the board to expand virtual training opportunities and augment the public records, wildfire access and style guides already on SPJ Oregon's website with other useful resources, such as tipsheets on how to navigate state and federal campaign finance databases, track court cases and use Census data.
Antonio Sierra
When I applied to be appointed to the SPJ Oregon board more than two years ago, I did not anticipate ending my first full term as president. It's still wild to me that my peers entrusted me with leading this organization, and although it's been a lot of hard work, I was extremely fortunate to have a great board to back me up.
Although I plan to step down as president, I'm not ready to step away. If re-elected, I would like to use the next couple of years to offer guidance and support to the next presidents in the same way past presidents have been a valuable resource for me. I spent much of my tenure trying to maintain our core services while reviving the in-person elements to our events that we lost for a couple of years. We met that goal over the past year and my hope is to use my next term to look toward expanding our volunteer base, an exercise that could help us stay in touch with Oregon journalism's grassroots level while using all the talents Oregon journalists have to offer to better our services.
It's been incredibly fun meeting and collaborating with so many Oregon journalists over the past few years. The state of American journalism hasn't offered much to be optimistic about in recent years, but the quality of our state's journalists and journalism supporters always gives me some hope for our future.