Oregon Media Insiders

This is hardly a scoop. It has been known for months that a buyout is coming as the paper faces the tough economy that all newspapers are battling. The only new news yesterday was Fred Stickel offering specific numbers. Numbers, by the way, that have been reported incorrectly before on this blog and by Willy Week, which has a well-known inability to report anything accurately about the O. (Wouldn't want them to have to put truth in the way of their agenda.) In addition, what Stickel said -- also consistent with previous statements -- is that part-timers do not have the job guarantee full-timers do. In fact, he said he could solve his problems by laying off all the part-timers, but he won't do that. Please remember that as layoffs are commonplace around newspapers, there have been none at The O and none are contemplated. It is a sad day at the paper, but people here know we work in a special place and at a special paper.

Willy Week may have gotten it a few minutes earlier, but you got it better.

At one point, when WW was a new concept and the staffers were energetic youngsters, they actually produced an exciting, if rarely factual, rag. Even if they stretched reality to fit their youthful agenda, the WW was fairly stimulating infotainment.

But, like all ideologically-motivated screeds, WW management and staff grew old and weary. If they couldn't get the facts in a phone call or two, they began to simply make it up. This happens with age. One gets an inflated opinion of one's abilities and one gets lazy. When this attitude first begins to creep into a newsroom, no one pays much attention. Afterall, sales are holding strong and the Letters to the Editor seem to show support.

But, as Kingsley Amis said, "Laziness has become the chief characteristic of journalism, displacing incompetence."

This famous quote was uttered long ago, well before WW fell under the spell of sloth. However, it remains appropo to this day and explains a lot about why the newspaper business is in the doldrums.

"Luck is always the last refuge of laziness and incompetence."
James Cash Penney

i agree that WW does a better job than it is getting credit for on this thread. when it first started, it was my opinion that if WW was still around afteer a few years, it would be because it was serving a market that the O could not reach. the net has really changed the white lines in this game, but I would say this is basically true still. -- no longer a quick brown fox

To offset its deficiencies, don't forget WW's Goldschmidt Pulitzer, a rare achievement -- make that an almost impossible achievement -- for a small alternative paper with practically no budget.