Portland Mercury

The Portland Mercury
	File:The Portland Mercury (cover).jpg
Type	Alternative weekly
Format	Tabloid
Owner(s)	Index Publishing
Publisher	Rob Thompson
Editor	Wm. Steven Humphrey
Founded	June 2000
Language	English
Headquarters	115 SW Ash St., Suite 600; Portland, OR 97204; USA
Circulation	45,000 (as of June 2014)
Website	www.portlandmercury.com

The Portland Mercury is an alternative weekly newspaper published in Portland, Oregon. It serves to chronicle the Portland music scene, and generally includes interviews, commentaries, reviews, and concert dates. It has an "I, Anonymous" section, in which local readers are encouraged to submit anonymous, usually impassioned, and often incendiary letters to the city at large, and Dan Savage's syndicated advice column Savage Love. There are adult, abstract and surrealist comic strips such as Maakies by Tony Millionaire, Kaz's Underworld by Kaz, and Idiot Box by Matt Bors. The Mercury is similar in style to its sibling publication, Seattle, Washington's The Stranger.

Contributors and staff

The Portland Mercury has published a number of notable writers and personalities, including Chelsea Cain, Paul Constant, Ian Karmel, Chuck Palahniuk, Eli Sanders, Dan Savage, David Schmader, and Sean Tejaratchi.

Past editors and reporters include Chas Bowie (arts editor), Phil Busse (managing editor), Ezra Ace Caraeff (music editor), Matthew Charles Davis (news reporter), Alison Hallett (arts editor), Katia Dunn (news reporter), Shelby R. King (news reporter), Sarah Mirk (news reporter), [Scott Moore (news editor), Zac Pennington (music editor), Amy J. Ruiz (news editor), Justin Wescoat Sanders (arts editor), Julianne Escobedo Shepherd (arts editrix), Katie Shimer (associate editor), Marjorie Skinner (managing editor), and Denis C. Theriault (news editor).

The Portland Mercury's publisher is Robert Thompson. The Portland Mercury’s current editorial staff consists of Editor-in-Chief Wm. Steven Humphrey, Managing Editor Erik Henriksen, Senior Editor Ned Lannamann, News Editor Dirk VanderHart, News Reporter Doug Brown, Music Editor Ciara Dolan, Arts Editor Megan Burbank, Calendar Editor Bobby Roberts, and Copy Chief Courtney Ferguson. While he is not yet an official editor, actor Sam Elliott has been known to visit the Mercury's offices.

Columns

The Portland Mercury publishes columns that often have a satirical or humorous tone. The publication's established columnists include Dan Savage, Ann Romano and Ian Karmel. The paper also often features fictional columns written by characters from pop culture or those created by members of the staff. These columns have included Elementary School Crime Blotter by Jerry Masterson, Imbecile Parade by Frank Cassano and One Hulk's Opinion by the Incredible Hulk. The Portland Mercury also publishes I, Anonymous, in which readers can submit anonymous rants and anecdotes.