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>What concerns me is complex topics like health care reform and climate change legislation might not be explored and explained fully due to the upheaval occurring in journalism.

I'm not sure I would trust the Oregonian as a source on these topics.  They don't have the news staff to cover big national or international stories well, even now.  Pretty sure that a new staff of poorly paid interns won't help.

Most of the Oregonian's articles on health care, for example, are from wire services, or reprinted days later from The New York Times.  

The Times, in contrast to the Oregonian, still practices excellent journalism, and has the experienced staff to do it well.

I am more than willing to pay for good journalism, which is why for national and international news we subscribe to the Times.

But the Oregonian is not worth it   -  I'll get my coupons online.

posted 3 years, 7 months ago
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The Oregonian "oregonlive" website clearly stinks  -  even long time readers and boosters of the paper agree on this point...

But now look at Peter Bhatia, telling us on air "oh no, it's good, and so very improved..."

Hmmm...real honest and accurate reporting, or a reflexive (or even contractually mandated) defense of a major corporate partner?

Exactly why we no longer subscribe

posted 3 years, 7 months ago
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As an educator, or a student, you can subscribe to the New York Times Monday through Friday for less than $10/month!  

The Sunday Times adds a chunk of change.  But at least there is excellent journalism here, not just advertising...

posted 3 years, 7 months ago
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I imagine Steve Forrester of the Daily Astorian might have some interesting comments on the power-serving instincts of the Oregonian with regards to the current North Coast battle over LNG...

posted 3 years, 7 months ago
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Won't miss this corporate paper  -  or its slow, awful website  -  at all.

It's a total joke when Executive Editor Peter Bhatia claims to investigate the powerful;  the Oregonian serves powerful interests, and broadcasts press releases from their advertisers and well-connected friends.

There are also recycled AP stories and articles from the New York Times that I've read several days before.

There are still plenty of great local "alternative" papers available throughout our state, reporting real news that matters.

posted 3 years, 7 months ago
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I'm a parent on the Wellness Committee at Sabin, and a neuroscientist, and I'm concerned about the "commodity beef" that PPS continues to serve our kids.

This beef actually comes from cows fed ground up pig, chicken and other meat products (from pigs and chicken themselves fed ground up cow), and thus there is a risk of transmitting "mad cow" disease.  The scary aspect of such "prion" diseases in humans is that it can take decades before symptoms are manifest...

I know the federal government to some extent forces PPS to accept this awful beef from huge agricultural corporations with strong ties to Congress  -  but until there are changes in the beef, I'd avoid it.  Local, grass-fed beef should be on the menu to protect our kids.

posted 4 years, 2 months ago
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We dropped our subscription to the Oregonian several years ago, for a number of reasons.  
For one, the New York Times actually offered news about the world at large.  The Oregonian just reprinted Times stories that we'd read days before.  It also covered stories (for example, the abuse scandals in the Catholic Church), that the Catholic publisher Fred Stickel suppressed.
Local news was available from alternative weeklies and community papers (most free), which often scooped the Oregonian on important stories (Goldschmidt anyone?).  
And after noting the endless scathing homophobic columns by David Reinhard, another conservative Catholic/GOP flack, we decided  -  why are we paying for a biased, unreliable, rehashed source for news?
And I agree about their website  -  it stinks.

posted 4 years, 3 months ago
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I think it's time we recognized the obvious negative effects of "faith-based" or evidence-free belief systems. For example, at a parent teacher night at Portland's Jefferson High School, a science teacher explained how local pastors (including one from Mt. Olivet Baptist Church) told their students to cover their ears, and close their textbooks, whenever "Darwin" or "evolution" were discussed...

The teacher laughed, however, noting that these pastors had apparently never heard of "natural selection," so he was able to generate an exciting, educational discussion of a central, evidence-based concept in biology in spite of religious efforts to hold the students back.

But too often religion gets a free pass, when its supernatural ideas are unsupportable and ridiculous, and yet regularly referenced to dumb down science education, prevent access to medical options (particularly for women, but also care for the terminally ill), and diminish basic civil protections for lesbians and gays.

My kids are always quick to respond to the question "But don't you believe in God?" with "Which god/goddess are you talking about? Zeus? Baal? Mary? The Flying Spaghetti Monster?" They know that our real world is a pretty cool place, too.

posted 4 years, 10 months ago
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Our state and federal constitutions guarantee equal protection to ALL American families, not just Marilyn Shannon's. And my family - my husband I, together almost 20 years, and our two boys, are as real and human as hers.

But my flesh and blood human family isn't equal to hers, legally, until the state offers us both the same package of rights and benefits. And "civil union" doesn't cut it; it's a second class package - not even portable to other states or countries.

And my husband and I are already married in Canada - a marriage recognized throughout our northern neighbor, and in Massachusetts, South Africa, and much of secular Europe.

But here in Oregon, too many mean-spirited people like Marilyn Shannon, and the Catholic Archdiocese of Portland, the Mormon Church, and white and black Protestant congregations, work very hard to make their stunningly baseless, religious prejudice ("my invisible god hates lesbians") trump state and federal constitutional guarantees of equal protection for all.

posted 5 years, 3 months ago
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