Oregon journalist Diane Lund-Muzikant, founder of The Lund Report, at her home in February 2023.
Jake / The Lund Report
Diane Lund-Muzikant, investigative journalist and founder of The Lund Report and Oregon Health Forum, died Saturday, leaving behind a legacy of watchdog journalism that redefined health care coverage across Oregon. She was 86.
As a young mother in Portland in the 1970s, Diane worked as a freelance journalist for multiple publications, including the Community Press in Beaverton, The Oregonian, People magazine and Good Housekeeping. She created a bi-monthly religious magazine, Shalom Oregon. In 1974, she received her journalism degree from the University of Minnesota.
Diane’s focus on health care reporting began in the mid-1980s when she went to work for the Scribe, a publication of the now-defunct Medical Society of Metropolitan Portland. There, she carved her own path, reporting on what she saw as a broken and opaque health care industry that lacked accountability. Among her works, she exposed the role of insurance companies in dictating patient care, and the impact of big hospital mergers on clinicians.
In 1990 she launched her own nonprofit, Oregon Health Forum, creating a platform that brought together leaders in the industry to discuss and debate the important health care issues affecting Oregonians. She simultaneously began a nonprofit monthly newsletter to report on health care and the industry, serving as reporter, editor and director, until her departure in 2006.
In 2008, at age 70, Diane created The Lund Report as an independent, nonprofit online news service devoted exclusively to covering the health care industry in Oregon. Here, Diane could tackle the big issues few others were covering: following the money that flowed into health care systems, the rising costs to patients that stifled preventative care, and the undue influence of special interest groups. “We’ll tell you the truth about what’s going on behind the scenes,” she said at the time.
It was her goal that investigative, watchdog journalism would lead to a more transparent and accountable health care system.
“In my decades-long career as an investigative health care journalist, I’ve had a single overriding conviction to challenge the power of the health care industry,” Diane wrote in 2024. “By revealing the facts, I believe we can create a health care system that benefits everyone, not just the powerful and the rich.”
For all her work with The Lund Report, Diane never took a salary, choosing instead to invest any revenue in paying reporters. She was more than just the visionary behind the organization, she was the heart and soul of the mission, inspiring people within the organization with unwavering dedication and tireless commitment to public service journalism.
In 2015, she relaunched Oregon Health Forum as it exists today, continuing the tradition of open, insightful conversations from leaders and innovators in the industry. The Forum operates as an independent arm of The Lund Report.
In the course of her career she reported on the excess revenue of Oregon’s nonprofit hospitals, the impact of big mergers, and the turmoil at the Oregon Health Authority. She alerted readers to the problems in local communities caused by deep funding cuts to the state’s Mental Health Division, and published the high salaries and bonuses of insurance and hospital executives and their large reserves.
Diane’s groundbreaking reporting coupled with her refusal to back down brought her some notoriety, but even more so it drew tremendous support from those who saw she was asking the crucial questions other people weren’t, and exposing deep flaws within a powerful industry. She was always grateful to the people who supported her work and stood by her during challenging times.
Diane was a breast cancer survivor and a co-founder of Rachel’s Friends Breast Cancer Coalition, an educational and advocacy organization focused on the environmental impacts of cancer. And she was also a world traveler, having visited more than 70 countries in her lifetime, even climbing to the basecamp of Mt. Everest.
“Diane never took no for an answer,” said Sarah Stevens, a friend and member of The Lund Report’s board of directors. “She was devoted to her children and husband, unafraid of conflict, and one of the most formidable, trailblazing women I’ve ever had the privilege of knowing. She created space for others — especially women like me — to lead with strength, speak up without apology, and stand firmly in our purpose.”
Just last year, Diane stepped down from The Lund Report’s board of directors, becoming an ex-officio member. This fall, she was to be honored by the National Federation of Press Women for her lifetime of achievements.
Diane died in her home Saturday, surrounded by her loved ones. She is survived by her husband Michael and his three children and six grandchildren, and her daughter Elissa and her three children.
This republished story is part of OPB’s broader effort to ensure that everyone in our region has access to quality journalism that informs, entertains and enriches their lives. To learn more, visit opb.org/partnerships.
