Opinion
A4
Thursday, April 21, 2022
OUR VIEW
When farmers
came through
for the U.S.
hen COVID-19 arrived in the U.S.
from China a little more than two
years ago, it set off a tsunami of uncer-
tainty among the 328 million Americans, none of
whom had ever been through anything like it.
Researchers scrambled to understand the
strange new virus even as it infected vast swaths
of the population. While many cases were mild
— or even presented no symptoms at all —
others were fatal.
In the midst of this crisis, farmers, ranchers,
processors and farmworkers were all called upon
to feed the nation.
By any measure, it was not easy. The ever-
changing regulatory landscape made what was
already a diffi cult job even tougher.
In the end, U.S. agriculture performed
spectacularly. Fears of food shortages disap-
peared, and food boxes and government bene-
fi ts were increased so no American had to worry
about eating.
All of this happened against a backdrop of
record unemployment, workplace upheaval for
those who still had a job and, above all else,
uncertainty as advice, directives and regulations
changed, sometimes from day to day.
Even after vaccines were found to be eff ec-
tive and widely available, suspicions remained
and some people refused the life preserver. This
was their right, but it also diminished a means of
stemming the tide of COVID.
Some critics say the government — and pri-
vate employers such as farmers and processors —
didn’t do enough to protect employees. With the
benefi t of 20/20 hindsight, they say they should
have been provided with more masks, plastic
dividers and other tools.
Some critics have faulted agencies such as
OSHA for not being aggressive enough, while
others said they were too aggressive.
In a time when facts were few and fears were
many, these agencies were doing their best.
In 2020, the Oregon Farmworker COVID-19
Study interviewed upward of 300 farmworkers.
They said that even in the early months of the
pandemic 77% of their co-workers wore masks
all of the time and 68% said they or their foreman
had received training on avoiding COVID.
In much of Oregon, the pandemic was not an
isolated incident. Wildfi res destroyed the homes
of many farmworkers, often forcing them to tem-
porarily live in close proximity to one another,
even while they continued to work on the farms.
But for the most part, they and others were
able to protect themselves and to harvest the
crops that fed the nation.
This should be a point of pride for them and
the many others who overcame hardship during
the past two years to keep the economy moving.
They also deserve a sincere “thank you” from
all of us for jobs well done.
W
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Oregon journalists are experimenting
with new way to report on governor’s race
LES
ZAITZ
OTHER VIEWS
O
regon voters, you’re about to
benefi t from a novel eff ort to
report on the governor’s race.
Between the Republicans and the
Democrats, more than two dozen
candidates are on the primary ballot
for governor.
Most news organizations don’t
have the reporters, the space or the
time to report on them all.
Yet voters deserve to know some-
thing about them besides what they
see in mailers, campaign ads and
Voters’ Pamphlets.
Journalists found a way to pro-
vide at least some useful informa-
tion once ballots go out April 27.
Soon, you can expect to start seeing
news outfi ts large and small pub-
lish answers the candidates gave to
common questions.
This media approach results
from a determined eff ort to consult
voters. Earlier this year, a series of
listening sessions — “Let’s Talk —
provided voters across the state a
chance to talk to the media. Our job
was to listen.
We wanted to know what voters
would like to get from the press.
Two vital “asks” emerged. One was
that voters wanted the press to avoid
picking winners based on volume
and type of coverage. They didn’t
want Oregon journalists to just key
in on those who could raise a lot of
money. Let the voters decide who
warrants consideration, they said.
The second “ask” was for more
information about issues and topics
that matter to Oregonians. Campaign
contributions? Not much. Political
scandals? Yawn.
From that emerged the idea of
pulling together newsrooms in
common cause to deliver more infor-
mation that Oregonians want. We
had to act fast.
We settled on this approach just
last month. Journalists around the
state would fi rst pick broad topics of
importance to Oregon and its people.
Then they would work to craft ques-
tions to be presented to every can-
didate, no matter how they were
polling, regardless of how much
money they had or had not raised.
In a matter of days, reporters
and editors settled on the topics:
climate change and the environ-
ment, crime and safety, education,
economy and housing.
Questions under each topic
fl owed in from newsrooms all
over the state. A corps of editors
tackled the job of reducing the list
to just three questions per topic and
revising the questions for clarity
and uniformity.
That work was undertaken by Joe
Beach of Capital Press, Erik Neu-
mann of Jeff erson Public Radio in
Ashland, Rachael McDonald of
KLCC in Eugene, Danielle Jester
of the Lake County Examiner in
Lakeview, John Schrag of Pamplin
Media Group, K. Rambo of Street
Roots, Andrew Cutler of the East
Oregonian in Pendleton and Dana
Haynes of Portland Tribune. I joined
in as well.
The Agora Journalism Center in
Portland, part of the University of
Oregon’s School of Journalism and
Communication, kept the communi-
cations fl owing and fi nally took on
the task of getting the 15 questions
out to all the candidates.
A sampling:
• The Oregon governor’s offi ce
is usually reactive when it comes to
dealing with drought – sending relief
money to aff ected counties or pro-
viding water deliveries in communi-
ties after wells have gone dry. What
specifi c steps would you take to pro-
vide long-term solutions for years of
increasing drought?
• Some rural counties with small
populations and small tax bases
struggle with adequate law enforce-
ment funding. What steps would
you take to address this chronic
problem?
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█
Les Zaitz is a veteran editor and investigative
reporter, serving Oregon for more than 45 years.
STAFF
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• Coming out of the pandemic,
we are seeing unprecedented stress
levels in educators, students and
parents. As governor, what steps
would you take to address this stress
and keep our public K-12 schools
from imploding?
Once candidates respond (they
have until Friday, April 22), all the
answers to each question will be
placed together, question by ques-
tion. They will be edited only for
length for those who exceed the
limit. (If you are backing a par-
ticular candidate, nudge them
to respond.)
The state’s largest news organiza-
tions, including The Oregonian and
Oregon Public Broadcasting, elected
not to participate. That’s fi ne —
they have far more resources than
the rest of us.
But the lineup of media organi-
zations that so far are partners in
the project represent newsrooms
large and small, from big cities
to rural outposts. Pamplin Media
Group has 26 newspapers all over
the state, from Forest Grove to
Prineville. EO Media Group is par-
ticipating and has 15 newspapers
from Astoria to Baker City. Other
newsrooms include Jeff erson Public
Radio, KLCC, Lake County Exam-
iner, Portland Record, Street Roots,
Columbia Gorge News, Grants Pass
Daily Courier, Keizertimes, KGW,
Portland Monthly, Willamette
Week, Malheur Enterprise, Salem
Reporter, Seaside Signal, The Way
by OR360, The Times-Journal and
Yachats News.
Voters, I hope, will be eager to
read the results. I know I am. There
may be political gems out there
that aren’t obvious from campaign
fi nance reports and headline counts.
And if we succeed in getting more
voters interested and engaged, then
all those newsrooms have done their
duty to provide the kind of public
service so vital to our state.
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