Randy Lesniak writes on Dec 18th, 2008 8:48amComment 7 | Respond

Perhaps this question would make for an interesting in-depth story; you've been in business for decades now, and after handling all sorts of stories, what are the greatest mistakes in WW's history? What did it teach you about reader expectations, independence, maintaining a profit, and journalistic standards for a paper that is not really a newspaper? I'm curious about how the WW became a better paper, and I think many readers would be interested in your past struggles to better understand the challenges you face. (And I'd love the O to do the same.) Thanks!

 

I assume you are talking about journalistic mistakes, rather than business ones. Mistakes we make plenty of. I'm not talking factual, though we make those as well--and correct them. (My favorite is a story we published more than 25 years ago about the richest man, at the time, in Oregon. A seclusive timber baron named Kenneth Ford. We ran a picture of him, but it was the wrong guy. We corrected it the next week)

The tougher journalistic mistakes tend to be ones where you didn't give enough context to a story, or your emphasis was all wrong. We did a story awhile back using good data to show that the Republican voter was in ascendancy in Oregon. How wrong were were. We once thought that police chief Mark Kroeker was going to be a welcome addition to the Police Bureau. We once endorsed Ralph Nader. We had great hopes for Tom Potter, till we realized that his mayoralty was more of an idea than an actual administration. In 1978, we called the Bee Gees the band of the year. We overestimated Gardenburger, Bud Clark and Nu Shooz. We underestimated Ron Wyden, the endurance of Bill Sizemore and the entrepreneurial skills of the McMenamins. We figured that for sure, Oregon legislators would reform what is arguably the most warped campaign finance law in America(by that I mean that there is no limit--none-to what any one individual or group can give to any one candidate.) And we erred in thinking that after we published a story in 1990 claiming that Larry Hurwitz, the owner of the Starry Night nightclub, had murdered one of his employees, that justice would be swift. Not so. It took ten years.

 

I have always read WW...since it's inception I think. But you've lost your edge. The ads bring in revenue which supports the process of producing a paper, no doubt and business is paramount, but overall I find the paper difficult to read. There must exist a more user friendly format. The online editions are equally opaque...ads, minutiae , etc., burying the stories. Why does it have to be so much work?. Maybe in the new year you can concentrate on a different format...clearer, easier to read and wade through. Otherwise I fear you'll lose readers...like all other newspapers it seems. One example was the video interviews of candidates on line..sometimes it worked..sometimes it didn't. Why not just publish the interview?

 

I am an Oregonian and a Native American of the Navajo Nations. My goal in having you read my story is to some how show what does happen when DHS Child Services handles a case like the one I am going to tell you. I go to school at the Art Institute of Portland and graduated from David Douglas HIgh. All my life I have done my best and just this last year I endured more then any person should, and still I have a sanity close to a judge. I am asking you to help me, so I may have a chance of keeping my son in my arms.

a while ago you did a story of a family going threw trouble. they were too Native American. I want to know if you can help me tell mine.

 

WW was right about the Bee Gees in 1978, Mark. No need to tear down the Brothers Gibb. Your transparency about occasional gaffes or mistakes at WW is laudable. I remember being invited to your old headquarters across from the library years ago after launching Inside Portland, a startup Webzine devoted to local popular culture and media criticism. I made two errors in one of our early issues and you raked me over the coals. I was humbled -- even traumatized by the intensity of your criticism -- but the experience made me paranoid about accuracy. Writers and public relations professionals inevitably make mistakes; most of their sins are pardonable provided they publish corrections and improve their craft. Newspapers have the power to change public policy or focus attention on injustice, but only as long as they remain credible. Thank you for making me a better journalist, writer, and communicator. P.S. The claim that WW "lost its edge