Reporting on the Portland protests with Noelle Crombie
Air Dates: August 31-September 6, 2020
While national media coverage often swoops in to cover local stories with national significance, local reporters are typically there from the beginning. They know the details. They know the sequence of events. And they know the community in which they are reporting. Noelle Crombie knows Portland as well as anyone and she鈥檚 been reporting on the protests and violence in that beautiful city.
Crombie is a senior staff writer at The Oregonian. She writes extensively about criminal justice issues in Oregon. She was the lead reporter on 鈥淕hosts of Highway 20,鈥 a narrative series and 5-part documentary that won 5 regional Emmys and Oregon鈥檚 top investigative journalism award. Crombie led a 10-month investigation into sexual abuse allegations against a founder of Mercy Corps, an international humanitarian relief organization based in Portland. The Oregonian鈥檚 reporting prompted the immediate resignation of the organization鈥檚 CEO, one of its top lawyers and a veteran board member. The series won two regional Emmys and captured a top prize in the prestigious Pictures of the Year International competition. Previously, she worked as a reporter for The Day in New London, Connecticut.
On this episode of 鈥淪tory in the Public Square,鈥 Crombie discusses the protests in Portland, Oregon that followed George Floyd鈥檚 murder. She says, 鈥渢here is an overreaching message against police brutality and police reform, that is clear, but [now] that message has, as some have told me, has been sort of co-opted by the focus on the federal involvement here.鈥
鈥Story in the Public Square鈥 broadcasts each week on public television stations across the United States. In Rhode Island and southeastern New England, the show is broadcast on Rhode Island PBS on Sundays at 11 a.m. and is rebroadcast Thursdays at 7:30 p.m. An audio version of the program airs Saturdays at 8:30 a.m. & 6:30 p.m. ET, Sundays at 3:30 a.m. & 11:30 p.m. ET on SiriusXM鈥檚 popular P.O.T.U.S. (Politics of the United States), channel 124. 鈥淪tory in the Public Square鈥 is a partnership between the Pell Center and The Providence Journal. The initiative aims to study, celebrate and tell stories that matter.