If you have lived in Oregon for any length of time, you know how awful the Beaver State's only statewide newspaper really is. Back in the early 1990s, when the newspaper touted itself as "practically indispensible," The O embarrassed itself by dropping the ball on the biggest political story of the year: the tongue-groping and inappropriate sexual advances of then-U.S. Senator Bob Packwood. The story broke not in Portland, but in Washington, D.C., and it led to the demise of the career of a once-promising moderate Republican.
One would think that after a few Pulitzer Prizes, and a nicely done redressing of the newspaper's look, over the last decade that the lessons about journalistic enterprise and originality would be ingrained by now into the minds of all those who toil at 1320 SW Broadway, especially in light of the presence of the fleet-footed (but vastly outgunned) Portland Tribune. Oh, but no.
Two recent front-page articles in The O caught Worldwide Pablo's interest, both illustrating this point:
Page A1 today: "The Rt. Rev. Johncy Itty: Bishop will offer guidance to church 'family'." This story focuses on the consecration of Itty as bishop of the Episcopal Church Western Oregon Diocese, an event that occurred (and which was witnessed by WWP) on September 20, 2003. It was reported in the Salem Statesman Journal on September 21, 2003, the day after the event. The O? Yep, it could muster the energy to report on the event just two and half weeks after the fact.
And from Page A1 last Thursday: "Oregon needs public's 2 cents for its 2 bits." This one's about Oregon's turn with the "state quarters" program -- in which every state is featured in a version of the U.S. 25-cent coin. [Even today, there are cute graphics about the "state quarters" in the O's Living section.] Astute readers of the Portland Tribune, however, will recognize that idea. The Trib reported it -- cute graphics and all -- in August.
Willamette Week had it right. The Oregonian: It's practically indefensible.
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