Lessons from covering the Portland teachers strike

Three reporters reflect on how they covered the nearly month-long strike in Portland. 

By Alexander Russo 

Covering a teachers strike is one of the most exciting — and difficult — things an education reporter is asked to do.

Reliable information is hard to come by. Circumstances change quickly (or stall out for days). The stakes are high for teachers, kids, and families. And there usually aren’t nearly enough journalists available to do the story justice.

That’s why The Grade has returned to the topic of strike and protest coverage so many times in the past.

In some ways, the just-completed Portland teachers strike fits the bill.

For most of November, Portland Public Schools students were out of class — a prolonged shutdown affecting over 40,000 students and 4,000 teachers.

Confusion, disagreement over basic facts, and acrimony all made appearances.

One key difference: several experienced local journalists were covering the story closely, competing with and often complementing each other’s efforts.

That didn’t mean it was easy work — or that everything went perfectly.

What were some of the highs and lows of covering the strike? What did the reporters and their competitors do particularly well?  What could they have done better?

We asked three of the reporters most closely involved to reflect on their experiences and assess their work.

The following excerpts have been edited and condensed for clarity.

Above, left to right: Oregon Public Broadcasting’s Natalie Pate, the Oregonian’s Julia Silverman, and Willamette Week’s Rachel Saslow.

BEST & PROUDEST

I’m glad I wrote an in-depth piece about how the strike was affecting classified workers [and] I’m proud that our team didn’t stop including kids, parents with varying perspectives, and the teachers and school workers themselves. – Oregon Public Broadcasting’s Natalie Pate

I was proud of the profile I wrote of union president Angela Bonilla. It introduced readers to the leader of the movement and it published at a pivotal moment. – Willamette Week’s Rachel Saslow

I spent three days in October — and did cry — trying to go through that Portland Public Schools budget. Apologies to any of my competitors if I missed the story by them, but I think we were alone in not just saying, ‘here’s how much the district says their proposals will cost, here is how much the union wants them to spend,’ but in trying to say, ‘here’s how much money actually exists.’  – The Oregonian’s Julia Silverman

I think we were alone in not just saying, ‘here’s how much the district says their proposals will cost, here is how much the union wants them to spend.’ – Julia Silverman (Oregonian)

DIVERSE VOICES 

I drove around to lower-income apartment complexes, I went to food pantries, I went to a community center that is an anchor in a historically Black neighborhood, and I went to talk to newcomer parents from Ukraine and Russia. I made a conscientious effort to try to hear from more than the usual suspects. – Silverman

[Finding varying perspectives] sometimes meant me awkwardly approaching a group of teens and hoping I didn’t come across too weird, but I’m glad we kept doing that… One moment that really shocked me was on the first day of the strike. I was at the picket line outside an elementary school, and I spoke with two students who’d come with their parents. When I asked them what kids were saying leading up to the strike, and what they’d like the kids to know now, one of them told me she wanted kids to know it wasn’t their fault that the strike was happening. I hadn’t imagined the kids might internalize some kind of blame for this happening. – Pate

I hadn’t imagined the kids might internalize some kind of blame for this happening. – Natalie Pate (OPB)

CHALLENGES & REGRETS

I think I under-covered a few things, most notably, some of the threats and intimidation that were targeted at school board members. … We underplayed [the threatening behavior] because I was worried about inflaming tensions. I think that was a mistake. – Silverman

In some ways, [being a PPS parent and alumna] made me way more informed and I asked better questions as a reporter. In other ways, my anxiety/stress/emotions were so heightened, I think it worked against me. – Saslow

INTENSE CRITICISM

When I wrote about the district threatening an unfair labor practice complaint against the union after the rally at the Convention Center, I was labeled by some as anti-teacher. It’s tough to get that kind of pushback… I think all the reporters covering the strike had to learn a lot on the fly, but we also have to remember our job is to provide stories that are as accurate, thorough, and fair as possible. – Pate

A few times during the strike, various clusters of union supporters mobilized against me because they did not like my coverage. At one point, someone posted my personal cell phone number on social media. I was fielding anonymous texts and calls from angry teachers and parents for a few days until I got it taken down. – Saslow

I heard about criticism of my reporting coming from the picket line, and that was probably the worst. Hearing that the teachers at my son’s school were unhappy with me was very difficult. – Silverman

Hearing that the teachers at my son’s school were unhappy with me was very difficult. – Silverman (Oregonian)

NEWSROOM SUPPORT

We are a small newsroom with a fast and attentive editing process so I could get things online quickly when necessary. I was grateful to be working alongside reporters and editors with deep knowledge of Oregon unions and politics. They gave me perspective — and sources — when necessary. – Saslow

The Oregonian’s strength really kicked in during the second full week of the strike. By then it was clear to me that it was beyond an education story. It was a political story. It was a business story. It was a sports story. We convened a meeting to talk about a more newsroom-wide approach, and after that I really think our coverage really stood out. – Silverman

Because we had a lot of people on our team helping, we got to tackle a lot of things one person might not have been able to do alone — the day-to-day during the strike for families, life on the picket line, political ramifications, how the strike affected small businesses and employers in the city, advice from neighboring districts who’d recently been on strike, etc. – Pate

We got to tackle a lot of things one person might not have been able to do alone. – Natalie Pate (OPB)

A MYSTERIOUS LACK OF NATIONAL COVERAGE

Portland is small and far away. Perhaps some union-coverage fatigue is setting in? The Portland teachers strike overlapped some with the Screen Actors Guild, and only one of those strikes is going to affect readers’ Netflix queues. – Saslow

I understand our newscasts for NPR got a good amount of airtime, and I would sometimes hear from people in other states with districts considering a strike or who are trying to make sense of what seems like a growing strike movement across industries right now. Maybe it’s because school district strikes are more isolated to their impacted communities than other industries? – Pate

Above: A much-admired profile of local teachers union president Angela Bonilla by Willamette Week’s Saslow

ADMIRATION FOR EACH OTHER’S WORK

A major shout-out to all the reporters and photographers who helped cover the strike, Rachel and Julia included. No one person could cover such a significant and complex event alone. I’m glad so many journalists paid such close attention throughout. – Pate

I think OPB had an excellent read on the situation as it related to state politics. There was a point where state lawmakers were like, ‘What’s the problem? We gave you all the money. You’re fine.’ That was a great story. And they had it first. Rachel’s profile of Portland Association of Teachers President Angela Bonilla was also very smart and insightful. A good step-back at a time when the rest of us were very focused on the day-to-day back-and-forth. – Silverman

Julia’s coverage was — in a word — inexhaustible. Does she sleep? Does she eat? I have such respect for her work and do not recommend competing with her. Going up against Natalie and Julia certainly made my own journalism better. – Saslow

Julia’s coverage was — in a word — inexhaustible. Does she sleep? Does she eat? – Rachel Saslow (Willamette Week)

INTENSITY & LENGTH

This was the most challenging experience I’ve ever had in 25 years in journalism. – Silverman

It was similar in size to past rallies or movements I’ve covered, but since it lasted as long as it did, and we didn’t know how things would change day to day, we had to be more flexible and creative and pace ourselves differently. – Pate

This was as close to combat reporting as I’ve ever gotten. … It was all-encompassing, personally and professionally. – Saslow

What did you think about the coverage — its strengths, weaknesses, or key aspects? Share your thoughts via thegrade2015@gmail.com or tag @thegrade_ with your perspective.

Many thanks to Silverman, Pate, and Saslow. You can find their work and follow them at @jrlsilverman, @NataliePateGwin, and @RachelLauren12.

Previously from The Grade

A more inclusive approach to covering school shutdowns (2023)
Cover teachers unions like you cover school districts (2022)
What really happened in Chicago? (2022)
Untold stories behind the Chicago teachers strike (October 2019)
How to cover a protest (December 2019)
Much-improved coverage of the Los Angeles teachers strike (January 2019)
New York City 1968 wasn’t a teachers strike; it was a community insurrection (September 2018)
Teacher strike coverage illustrates need to amplify parent, student voices (August 2018)
Oklahoma teacher walkout coverage marred by partisan politics (April 2018)
How education journalists respond to public criticism (April 2017)