Oregonian Double Standards

I recently sent an email to Betsy Hammond, the Politics co-editor at The Oregonian. During a phone call the day prior, she suggested #GIJustice didn’t quite fit in what she saw as the scope of The Oregonian’s reporting. But that proved not exactly accurate, so I emailed her the following.

Betsy; 

The Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009 included a section that extended protections to service members, called the Soldiers Amendment. In the Oregonian's prior reporting (including here and here), the military protections of HCPA have been ignored. 

Less than a year after the HCPA was passed, my local American Legion Post here in Albany was burned to the ground on July 4, 2010. The Oregonian reported on it without mentioning the anti-military bias or the fact that it should have raised anti-military hate/bias flags. 

Why does the Oregonian treat a quarter of a million Oregon veterans as second class citizens when it comes to newsworthiness? 

On October 4, 2024, Oregon's senior senator, Ron Wyden (CCed), asked the Department of Justice why they 1) have not enforced The Soldiers Amendment, 2) fail to provide a means of reporting to victims, and 3) are not tracking violent crimes targeting my community. 

How much longer will the Oregonian apply journalistic standards differently when it comes to military families? 

I have also CCed state legislators involved in this matter because I will be testifying before the State Senate Committee with jurisdiction over veterans during the next Leg Days, in December. But there is no reason to allow Wyden's Congressional Inquiry to be ignored. When will you report equally on Oregonians' work toward social justice and human rights?