Recording Newberg History: Branden Andersen
Photos by Billie Throm
Article by Avery Duffy
NEWBERG, Ore. – History will be left blank unless someone takes it upon themself to write it down. Branden Andersen holds that responsibility for the small town of Newberg.
After a long journey of high school paper columns, internships, working for the University of Oregon’s The Daily Emerald, reporting on public safety and freelancing, Andersen moved to Newberg in 2021. He was in search of the “stereotypical” small-town, close-knit community and ended up finding much more.
By April of 2023, Andersen was settled into Newberg but discovered his favorite coffee shop, See See Motor Coffee Co. (See See’s) was closing. He could find no reason for the sudden shut down, so he decided to investigate himself.
With a reporter's notebook and audio recording device in hand, Andersen walked up to Thor Drake, former owner of See See’s, claiming to be a local reporter. This interview led to Andersen's first Newsberg article: See See Newberg Officially Closed.
While Andersen pitched this article to The Newberg Graphic (the only news publication in Newberg at the time), he was denied since their stories focused more on Portland news. Despite this, Andersen felt the story behind the closing of a popular business in his small town was valuable news and he wanted the community to have access to it.
Andersen's resolution? The start of Newsberg.
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For the three years, Andersen has placed a spotlight on the happenings of his small town through Newsberg. He says anything that has happened is newsworthy and stresses the importance of local news.
“The role of a community paper is to have one central place that you can go to get verified, accurate information about what's happening in your town, so you can have a closer and deeper understanding of it,” Andersen explains.
He emphasizes the necessity of integrating human connection and community with writing. “It takes a whole community to do this together,” said Andersen. “It can’t just be one person with a laptop on a couch. We all need to be working on this together and reminding people that local news is theirs.”
Andersen explains how journalism holds the authoritative ability to blend a writer’s articulation and the community's thoughts. He says this process wouldn’t happen without connecting to the communities one is writing about.
When asked about the impact Newsberg has made, Andersen talked about a more well-rounded and informed community, promotions of new businesses and even impacted city committee decisions based on information learned through Newsberg. He takes pride in the idea that people are learning things about their town and engaging with important changes that they might otherwise not know about.
“I have hopes and dreams that this will be a full fledged newspaper,” said Andersen. “I hope that we can become the paper of record for the town and have this be an example…for rural communities like ours that need and are missing newspapers.”
He also talks about his hopes of impacting future journalists that may come out of Newberg and George Fox University. He looks forward to establishing and building a journalistic culture in Newberg, as well as “bringing journalists to the country and training them well because we have people and journalists that care about the future of journalism.”
Andersen hopes Newsberg can play a role in the legacy of aspiring journalists, either as a landing place to provide a space for learnings or to mentor. While he values his role in recording Newberg history, he also knows it’s essential we preserve the future and that aspiring writers will be the ones who take on this role.
“I am incredibly proud to be able to write part of the history of this town,” said Andersen.
Andersen will continue to record community stories within the Newberg area and will advocate for future journalists looking to do the same. The community of Newberg makes history and Andersen ensures it’s remembered.
