Reporting • Editing • Podcasts
Reporting
AI Slop Is Already Invading Oregon Journalism
The Ashland Daily Tidings — established as a newspaper in 1876 — ceased operations in 2023, but if you were a local reader, you may not have known. Almost as soon as it closed, a website for the Tidings reemerged, boasting a team of eight reporters who cranked out densely reported stories every few days. Unfortunately, none of them were real. Some even used the stolen identities of real journalists to pull off the illusion.
Portland Activist’s Murderer Linked To Decades-old Rape Case By New Records
A Portland area man evaded justice for nearly three three years after he killed a well-known activist in 2019. Records I obtained revealed he may have been dodging a sexual assault case much longer.
Rock Climber’s Life Collapsed in Years Leading Up to Mass Shooting Plot
By the time a Michigan family court judge issued her Sept. 27 ruling in his divorce, Samson Garner owned little more than two video game consoles, a 2012 Subaru, a few guns and a court order to get a “full psychological evaluation.”
Editing
Booked and Buried: The Rising Death Toll Inside Northwest Jails
A year long investigation into the scope and scale of jail deaths in Oregon and Washington. As lead editor on this project, I managed reporters from three different news outlets and helped our team create a first-of-its-kind database that recorded more than 300 deaths across a decade. The reporting eventually led to a new law in Oregon requiring better tracking of inmate deaths.
Race to the Bottom: The Vast Mismanagement of Oregon’s water
A 2022 investigation by reporter Emily Cureton Cook that looks at ways Oregon’s unsustainable groundwater management policies, and how abuse of those policies have enriched a select few water rights holders in the state. This reporting resulted in several pieces of legislation aimed at addressing inequities in water law.
Podcasts
Hush: Oregon vs. Jesse Lee Johnson
Hush: Love Thy Neighbor
The Fault Line: Dying for a Fight
Bundyville
About
Jesse Lee Johnson, center, at an Innocence Project of Oregon event following his release from prison in the state. Johnson was wrongfully accused of a 1998 murder in Salem, Oregon. His story was the subject of the Hush podcast’s first season, which was reported by Leah Sottile, left, and Ryan Haas, right..
Ryan Haas has worked in many different areas of journalism over the years, including stints at newspapers, digital-first outlets and public media. Prior to moving to Oregon in 2011, he worked as a reporter and editor in Illinois, the Caribbean and Florida.
Over more than 20 years, Ryan’s reporting and podcast work has won Edward R. Murrow, National Headliner and Society of Professional Journalists awards. His work on the Bundyville podcast contributed to two National Magazine Award nominations for that series. Ryan’s work has both freed the wrongfully convicted and locked up a murderer. It has changed laws and held powerful people to account through rigorous reporting.
Contact Ryan
Have a tip for a story? Interested in working together? Seeking a speaker for your next journalism event or class? Please reach out!
