Matthew Kish and the PBJ: 13 Years and Counting

My visit to the Portland Business Journal was a quaint dive into an oddly successful branch of journalism. Their niche market and unique services have allowed it to be successful even in the worst of times. At the heart of this operation is Matthew Kish, who has been a reporter with the Portland Business Journal for over 13 years. Kish commonly covers Nike, upcoming small businesses, and any corporate legal cases that might impact the Portland business community.

Kish got his undergraduate degree in philosophy at Ohio Dominican University, and went on to pursue a graduate degree in liberal arts and science at Reed College. Shortly after he moved on to be a Fellow at the Coro Leadership Center, which became a good ground for networking. From there he began interning and involving himself in journalistic work. He was a freelancer for the Oregonian and Portland Tribune for a few years before moving into a full-time position with the Indianapolis Business Journal. This lasted for about one year before he moved on to working at the Portland Business Journal. Returning to Oregon was something Kish had wanted to do. In 2017, Kish moved into a Fellowship in Economics and Business Journalism at Columbia University, where he strengthened his business background and writing. Additionally, Kish used to teach the News Writing course at University of Portland. 

His work covering Nike and their current corporate actions, both locally and globally, has been a huge part of his career at the PBJ. His official beat is “footwear and money”. Recently, Kish has been writing stories to keep small businesses in Portland informed during the heat of the pandemic. These stories have been covering relief loans for small businesses, and other funds to keep employees protected and doors open. 

He commonly keeps tabs on a handful of regular sources, grabs lunch and coffee with them to stay updated and in the loop. Kish said the best way to get sources is to first put down the pen and notepad and ask them to chat with them. This has connected him with people who were, at first, reluctant to be interviewed. Kish uses a variety of different systems and alerts to keep tabs on sources for stories. He showed me a few sites that require paid subscriptions that showed all kinds of government data on individual people, and what alerts he sets his email up for to keep updated on cases that might pertain to his work. The PBJ commonly uses Infogram for their infographics, which I found great because that is something The Beacon has used in the past.

Although Kish has had a variety of different offers from different business journals and news outlets, he has chosen to stay at the PBJ. He values his work and said that the environment and culture of the PBJ has kept him around. The kind of writing Kish has built his career on is something that I find interesting, and I have been contemplating pursuing something in this field after graduation.