Oregon Media Insiders

System-wide, the Gannett papers are facing layoffs and closing open positions, and the Statesman-Journal will be among the affected. This morning I got a copy of an email from SJ publisher Steve Silberman:

Here in Salem, we will not fill some open positions and we will also lay off three employees, or about 1.5% of our full-time workforce. In some areas, we have more employees than budgeted, which I have taken into account. Working with the Operating Committee, we have focused on strategically aligning our resources for future growth. We will make these reductions and notify the three affected employees on Monday.

It pains me to lay off people because I know the financial and emotional toll this will have. I have not made this decision lightly or rashly. As we realign our business, you have my assurance that we will treat employees fairly. The three impacted employees will receive one week's severance for each year of service with a minimum two-week severance benefit. Medical benefits will continue for the length of the severance period.

I don't know who the three people are.

I really hate layoff days.

Update: I hear two of the people laid off were a photographer and a librarian. I don't know names.

Steve Silberman has been appointed the new publisher at the Statesman Journal. He replaces Brian Priester, who's moved to a paper in Lansing, MI. Silberman is the former executive editor of the Palm Springs Desert Sun.

Got a pointer to this from an SJ staffer (it was in Poynter, too)--a rare opinion column from publisher Brian Priester publicly taking his people to task for not covering a Christian music festival:

Although I did not attend the event, I have heard from reliable people that Saturday's crowd was approximately 15,000 and Sunday's crowd was between 30,000 and 40,000. This was a huge event for our community. It deserved to be on the front page of the Statesman Journal. We completely dropped the ball on our coverage.

I am embarrassed and outraged by our lack of coverage, as I'm sure many of you are as well. You deserve better from the Statesman Journal. I promise to do my best to ensure this will never happen again. Please accept my apology.

The SJ staffer described it as being "thrown...under the bus after caving to a few calls from the readership's lunatic fringe. Now morale is in the tank. Hooray!"

Hot on the heels of the Phoenix crash, the Statesman-Journal reports that the KGW chopper got in the way of firefighting efforts near the Dalles Friday. State aviation specialist Jim Ziobro says two retardant runs were waved off because the news helicopter was in the way, and that he was faxing a report today to the FAA. The complaint alleges that the pilot was supposed to remain in radio contact and stay at least 500 feet above the firefighting aircraft:

"He didn't do that," Ziobro said, adding that at times the helicopter was under the plane trying to make the drop.

Firefighters said the tankers were notified of the helicopter's presence by people on the ground. Ziobro said the helicopter pilot did not have the required frequencies needed stay in contact with fire managers.

He said other media aircraft covering the fire caused no problems. ...

The KGW pilot, Daron Larsen, was angered by the accusations. Larsen said he was at roughly the same altitude as the aerial firefighters and would have moved higher if he had been told.

He said there was no temporary flight restriction in place when he arrived, and, without one, he has the same right to the airspace as the fire crews.

"I did not break any rules; I want to make that 100 percent clear," said Larsen, who said he has been flying news helicopters for eight years, seven of them in Seattle.

Rod Gramer, KGW's executive news director, said fire officials had called the station with airspace restrictions and frequencies, but the helicopter already was en route home by the time it re-entered radio range. He questioned why fire managers would have called the station if the pilot had been briefed.

"I can guarantee you the pilot is responsible," Gramer said.

I have a feeling that news pilots are going to be under a great deal of scrutiny for a while. I don't envy them.

[edited to add link to full story. can't believe I did that!--L]

Today's Statesman-Journal crowns Daria O'Neill:

Daria O'Neill, Portland's quirky "queen of all media" is making a stop in Salem this weekend.

She's in town to play master of ceremonies at a concert by alternative rock band FarCry as part of the Salem Public Library's "World of Music at the Library" series.

"It's a total coup for us to have her here with FarCry," said Sonja Somerville, the library's event coordinator.

Salem must be a sleepier town than I thought. Thanks to the reader who sent this to me.

David Risser moves to London to work for Bloomberg News as editor for global energy and environmental issues:

Statesman Journal President and Publisher Sonja Sorensen Craig praised Risser's contributions to the newspaper. He introduced several innovative features including the In The Know education page, Real Living section, and the Listening Post, a regular feature that captured the everyday conversations of area residents at home, at work and at play. Risser also has overseen a redesign of the newspaper, expanded the paper's business coverage and Web-based content.

Wonder if he's responsible for the bad javascript on that page. Hm, probably not.

As my online nom de plume might suggest, I care about sports and I have lots of strong opinions about how sports are covered.
What I don't care about is how the Blazers, Oregon or Oregon State are covered (basically, anything that comes with a buffet and a heated pressbox).
That said, I'd like to hear your opinions on how (and how well) local media outlets -- mostly daily and weekly newspapers and occasionally TV -- cover local sports. Most of what I'm interested in is how your local high school teams and small colleges are covered.
Who does a good job? Who works hard? Who just sucks and who doesn't even try?