The Skanner
{{Short description|Newspaper in Portland, Oregon}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2025}}
{{Infobox newspaper
| name = The Skanner News
| logo = The Skanner logo.png
| logo_size =
| image =
| caption =
| motto =
| type = Weekly newspaper
| format =
| owners =
| founder =
| publisher = Bernard V. Foster
| president =
| editor = Bobbie Dore Foster
| staff =
| foundation = October 1975
| headquarters = Portland, Oregon
| circulation = 75,000
| circulation_date =
| sister newspapers =
| ISSN = 1543-6357
| oclc = 12566075
| website = {{Official website|theskanner.com}}
| free = [https://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn85042482/issues/first_pages/ University of Oregon Libraries]
}}
The Skanner or The Skanner News is an African-American newspaper covering the Pacific Northwest of the United States. Its head office is in Portland, Oregon, with an additional office in Seattle, Washington. It discontinued its regular print publication in 2020.{{Cite news |last1=Herron |first1=Elise |last2= |last3= |first3= |date=January 16, 2020 |title=The Skanner, One of Portland's Oldest Newspapers Serving the African-American Community, Retires Print Edition |language=en-US |work=Willamette Week |url=https://www.wweek.com/news/2020/01/16/the-skanner-one-of-portlands-oldest-newspaper-serving-the-african-american-community-retires-print-edition/ |access-date=2021-02-18}} The major state newspaper, The Oregonian, has published items from The Skanner on its website Oregon Live.{{Cite web |last=Swart |first=Cornelius |date=2012-11-28 |title='I'll never look at Portland the same way again,' says Lisa Loving of The Skanner News: ONN partner Q & A |url=https://www.oregonlive.com/news-network/2012/11/ill_never_look_at_portland_the.html |access-date=2025-02-10 |website=The Oregonian |language=en}}
History
Bernard Foster started the paper in 1975. He became part-owner of the Northwest Dispatch in Tacoma, Washington in 1985, and launched a Seattle edition of the Skanner in 1996.{{Cite news |date=April 14, 1990 |title=Third Black Weekly Published in Seattle |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_editor-publisher_1990-04-14_123_15 |access-date=2021-02-17 |work=Editor & Publisher |language=English}} Owners Bernie Foster and Bobbie Doré Foster founded the paper after being inspired by the teachings of Martin Luther King Jr.
Foster served as secretary of the West Coast Black Publishers Association as early as 1983.{{Cite news |date=December 10, 1983 |title=Newspeople In the News |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_editor-publisher_1983-12-10_116_50 |access-date=2021-02-17 |work=Editor & Publisher |language=English}} In 1992, Foster, then president of the organization, announced a deal with Nordstrom to spend $220,000 on advertising in 20 Black papers in the west.{{Cite news |last=Kerwin |first=Ann Marie |date=June 27, 1992 |title=Nordstrom Targets Black Customers |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_editor-publisher_1992-06-27_125_26 |access-date=2021-02-17 |work=Editor & Publisher |language=English}}
In 1989, The Skanner began campaigning for the renaming of Portland's Union Avenue to Martin Luther King Boulevard. The campaign was successful.{{cite news |url= http://portlandobserver.com/photos/2014/apr/25/ |title= Photos for April 25, 2014 |newspaper= Portland Observer |access-date= 2014-06-30}} In 1990, a fire destroyed a warehouse owned by The Skanner, causing $28,000 in damages.{{Cite news |date=January 18, 1990 |title=Fire hits warehouse |work=The Oregonian |pages=23}} The cause was determined as arson.{{Cite news |date=January 30, 1990 |title=Police seek fire evidence |work=The Oregonian |pages=15}}
In 2009, the newspaper's owners installed security cameras on their head office in North Portland, to monitor an adjacent hot spot of drug deals and shootings, and made sure loiterers knew they were being watched. When crime went down by 50 percent, cops credited the decline in part to the paper's vigilance.{{Cite web |last=Parks |first=Casey |date=2014-03-28 |title=The Skanner publishes meter to track solar energy it's harnessing for North Killingsworth businesses |url=https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2014/03/the_skanner_publishes_meter_to.html |access-date=2025-02-10 |website=The Oregonian |language=en}}
Since 2012, The Skanner has displayed a solar meter{{Cite web |title=The Skanner News Real-Time Solar Power Meter |url=http://theskanner.com/solarpower/ |access-date=2025-02-10 |website=The Skanner News |language=english}} to chart the energy it is harnessing from the extensive banks of solar cells the owners had installed on the roof and awning of their North Killingsworth building.
In early 2020, the media organization stopped publishing regular print editions, but has continued to publish online. In 2023, the newspaper sold its office building in Humboldt, Portland.{{Cite web |last=Silverman |first=Julia |date=2023-09-03 |title=The Skanner newspaper enters new era, sells North Portland headquarters |url=https://www.oregonlive.com/news/2023/09/the-skanner-newspaper-enters-new-era-sells-north-portland-headquarters.html |access-date=2023-09-04 |website=The Oregonian |language=en}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.bmorenews.com/business/the-glover-report-meet-bernie-foster-national-news.shtml Baltimore News article, business section] Retrieved 2014-06-30
- [http://www.theskanner.com TheSkanner.com] daily news, Retrieved 2014-04-19
{{African American press}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Skanner}}
Category:1975 establishments in Oregon
Category:African-American history in Portland, Oregon
Category:African-American history in Seattle
Category:African-American newspapers of Oregon
Category:Newspapers published in Portland, Oregon
Category:Newspapers published in Washington (state)
Category:Newspapers established in 1975