I'm a new member here and have yet to post before, so today's topic is a couple of weeks old but has bugged me nonetheless.
Has anyone else noticed the occasional Jason Quick column "On the Media" in the Oregonian sports section? While Quick is, in general, an OK writer, I have a problem with a couple mentions he's made in the column about the on-air talent at KFXX 1080 "The Fan," the local sports talk radio station.
I don't mind Quick writing about local sports radio -- in fact, coverage on the local radio scene has been notably and consistently absent from local papers since Pete Schulberg left the 'O' (he didn't write nearly as much about radio during his time at the Trib) -- but Quick's two mentions have both been pro-Fan, one urging retention of afternoon host Ian Furness, the other taking the Fan's side in a stupid dust-up over 1190 KEX using some Mike Hass-inspired rap song produced by KFXX staffers and used without permission or accreditation.
In either case, the subject matter is kind of a "who-cares" thing, but here's my problem with it -- Quick is a regular on-air guest on The Fan (he even has a cute nickname that Furness uses for him) and The Fan hosts regularly promote him as their "Blazer Insider" and promote his upcoming work in the 'O.' Beyond that, his fellow 'O' columnist John Canzano has his own once-weekly radio hour on The Fan.
Yet despite all that, Quick has yet to acknowledge any of the above in one of his columns. Again, as far as the subject matter goes, who cares?But on the ethical front, when Quick writes a column that now in two cases has supported Furness and The Fan, should he not at least acknowledge the support and free PR he gets from the station?
Of course he should.
Memo to Peter Bhatia:
Please correct this ethical lapse.
On the other hand, Right Fielder, perhaps you expect too much from sports writers.
Remember the book deal Dwight Jaynes' had with Rick Adelman while Jaynes covered the Blazers? I thought that crossed the line.