Oregon Media Insiders

Quote from above the fold page one story in the Daily Astorian:

"It's time that somebody takes a stand for the working class in this city," resident Katherine Head told the Council. She pointed out the apartment dwellers are the teachers, police officers, journalists and nurses of Seaside. She does not believe residents are getting fair notice of the conversions, or that they are able to appeal them effectively. "They're busy trying to survive."

They fail to mention that 'resident' Katherine Head is also the editor of the Daily A's primary competition, the Seaside Signal.

Link is here:

A recent page one, main headline reads:
Daily Astorian poll reveals deep divide on LNG plant

Followed by the story:
How The Daily Astorian poll was conducted

I always love shameless self-promotion in my papers, so if anyone else can find examples of media creating its own news and touting it as the biggest item of the day, I'd love to see or hear about them.

A coast newspaper recently published an editorial special section detailing its positions on most items on the ballot and who it supports for office. The paper sold advertising in this section. Do you think this was ethical? Newspapers have a general rule of not selling ad space on opinion pages.

CyberJournalist.net tips us today to Seaside-Sun.com, the Daily Astorian's new citizen journalism site. You can submit photos and news, add events to a calendar, use free web classifieds and so on:

Maybe you’ve heard of the community journalism wave. Maybe you’ve wished there was a place for neighborhood happenings or family joys that don’t make it into the paper or on radio. Maybe you’ve wanted a gathering place online for Seaside friends and family and all the news important to you. Seaside-Sun.com is all that and more.

Categories: Daily_Astorian, newspaper, Oregon, Astoria, cyberjournalism, citizen_journalism

A "cycle of purchase and cannibalization":

What happens when a broadcasting or newspaper property has been reduced to nothing of value?...

The big loser in this destruction is our democracy. There was a time when every Portland station had robust news operations, news analysts and weekly newsmaker interviews. A viewer gained some sense of what was going on in Salem by watching these shows.

No more. Local television has virtually removed itself from the democratic process. It participates in the democracy only as broadcaster of wall-to-wall campaign ads in the election season. For that, the station is handsomely rewarded.

If you wonder why Oregon’s political conversation is so incoherent and lethargic, this is part of the answer. Our statewide dialogue has been diminished dramatically over the past two decades, as the stations abandoned the business of serious journalism. Meanwhile, Oregon Public Broadcasting has not risen to the challenge of filling the void.

Ouchie.