''The Skanner'' or ''The Skanner News'' is an

African-American newspaper African-American newspapers (also known as the Black press or Black newspapers) are news publications in the United States serving African-American communities. Samuel Cornish and John Brown Russwurm started the first African-American period ...

covering the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Tho ...

of the United States. Its head office is in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the list of cities in Oregon, largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, Columbia rivers, Portland is ...

, with an additional office in

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region ...

. Prior to discontinuing regular print publication in 2020, it published three formats: a daily website at theskanner.com,UNCS Information Source
Black Press Newspapers on the web, Retrieved 2014-06-24 a weekly printed newspaper, plus a facsimile of the printed edition online. Bernard Foster started the paper in 1975. He became part-owner of the ''

Northwest Dispatch The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...

'' in

Tacoma, Washington Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, and northwest of Mount Rainier National Pa ...

in 1985, and launched a Seattle edition of the ''Skanner'' in 1996. Foster served as secretary of the West Coast Black Publishers Association as early as 1983. In 1992, Foster, then president of the organization, announced a deal with

Nordstrom Nordstrom, Inc. () is an American luxury department store chain headquartered in Seattle, Washington, and founded by John W. Nordstrom and Carl F. Wallin in 1901. The original Wallin & Nordstrom store operated exclusively as a shoe store, a ...

to spend $220,000 on advertising in 20 Black papers in the west.

About

In this era of concentration of media ownership ''The Skanner News'' is proving to be one of few remaining privately-owned newspapers. ''The Skanners own

reporters A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

investigate the issues of all minorities in the

, but the publication's subject matter also covers national and world news. ''The Skanner'' faces-off against government or large institutions that are treating minorities unfairly. It debates on the racial issues around

gentrification Gentrification is the process of changing the character of a neighborhood through the influx of more affluent residents and businesses. It is a common and controversial topic in urban politics and planning. Gentrification often increases the ec ...

, education and

police accountability Police accountability involves holding both individual police officers, as well as law enforcement agencies responsible for effectively delivering basic services of crime control and maintaining order, while treating individuals fairly and with ...

.Oregonlive interview.
Retrieved 2014-06-3 Each week ''The Skanner'' publishes one or more opinion articles by:

Benjamin Chavis Dr. Benjamin Franklin Chavis Jr. (born January 22, 1948) in Oxford, North Carolina is an African-American civil rights leader and icon, United Church of Christ (UCC) ordained minister, author, journalist, organic chemist, environmentalist, global ...

Marian Wright Edelman Marian Wright Edelman (born June 6, 1939) is an American activist for civil rights and children's rights. She is the founder and president emerita of the Children's Defense Fund. She influenced leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Hillary ...

Earl Ofari Hutchinson Earl Ofari Hutchinson (born October 8, 1945)"Media Makers: Earl Ofar ...

, Jesse Jackson, Julianne Malveaux,

Marc Morial Marc Haydel Morial (born January 3, 1958) is an American political and civic leader and the current president of the National Urban League. Morial served as Mayor of New Orleans from 1994 to 2002 as the city's youngest Mayor, President of the ...

Al Sharpton Alfred Charles Sharpton Jr. (born October 3, 1954) is an American civil rights activist, Baptist minister, talk show host and politician. Sharpton is the founder of the National Action Network. In 2004, he was a candidate for the Democrati ...

. The publication also features book reviews, film reviews and celebrity interviews from an African American perspective by

Kam Williams Kaam (Gurmukhi: ਕਾਮ ''Kāma'') in common usage, the term stands for 'excessive passion for sexual pleasure' and it is in this sense that it is considered to be an evil in Sikhism. In Sikhism it is believed that Kaam can be overcome ...

. The major state newspaper, ''

The Oregonian ''The Oregonian'' is a daily newspaper based in Portland, Oregon, United States, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the U.S. west coast, founded as a weekly by Thomas J. Dryer on December 4, 18 ...

'', often publishes items from ''The Skanner'' on its website Oregon Live.

Mission

''The Skanner'' views its products as a tool for the community to learn about what is happening around it, as well as giving readers an opportunity to voice their opinion. ''The Skanner'' is dedicated to advancing the Black Press in the Northwestern United States.member of National Newspaper Publishers Association
Portland Skanner ''The Skanner'' mission statement is "Challenging People to Shape a Better Future Now".

History

''The Skanner'' has published news in Portland since October 1975 and Seattle since 1990. It was founded in 1975 by owners Bernie Foster and Bobbie Doré Foster, being inspired by the teachings of

Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist, one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968 ...

It still publishes a special issue each January and holds a Martin Luther King celebratory breakfast where it gives college scholarships for academic achievement. In 1979, the building was badly burned and much of its stock and equipment was destroyed. However the owners continued the paper's publication. Some suspected arson but it was not proved. In 1989, The Skanner began campaigning for the renaming of Portland's Union Avenue to Martin Luther King Boulevard. The campaign was successful. 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.Oregonlive: The Skanner Publishes Meter
Retrieved 2014-06-30 Since 2012, ''The Skanner'' has displayed a solar meterSolar energy savings meter
/ref> 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.

References

External links

Baltimore News article, business section
Retrieved 2014-06-30
TheSkanner.com
daily news, Retrieved 2014-04-19 {{DEFAULTSORT:Skanner 1975 establishments in Oregon African-American history in Portland, Oregon African-American history in Seattle African-American newspapers Newspapers published in Portland, Oregon Newspapers published in Washington (state) Newspapers established in 1975 Weekly newspapers published in the United States African-American history of Oregon