Skip to main contentIN MEMORIAM
I want to thank Chris Lydgate for a generally fair and humanistic article about Jessica Dolin, a.k.a. Goddess Athena ["Death of a Goddess," WW, July 16, 2003]. I got to know her during the summer of 2001, and though I hadn't seen her since that year, she made a lasting impression on my life. Her energy and force of personality were amazing, but the memory of her honesty, sensitivity and intelligence is just as important. I am sickened by those who took advantage of her trust.
My heart goes out to her family and loved ones. Jessica was, and is, a wonderful person, and it is tragic that she is not with us anymore. I know she will live on in the memory of all who knew her. A woman so strong and so unique could not be forgotten.
Nick Levine
Southeast Holgate Street
WATCH AND LEARN
To Amy Roe: Thank you for your mention of me in your article ["Mouth of the Columbia," July 16, 2003]. I teach a news-writing class at Portland State University on Monday and Wednesday nights where students are learning the basic tenets of journalism. Perhaps you'd like to sit in and bone up on your news-gathering skills.
Here are a few examples:
Get the name right: It's S. Renee Mitchell. Leaving out the "S" is like leaving off a "Jr." If it's right, get it right.
Get your facts straight: Mz. Roe, you claim that I cited a flap with Columbia Riverkeeper and Christopher Swain in my column. That is factually incorrect. I never mentioned the organization in my column nor any description that would lead one--such as yourself--to believe I was talking about this organization. I'm curious why you decided to make up this information.
Be ethical: It is a reporter's responsibility to be fair and check with people mentioned by name in news stories, especially if the reporter is making accusations about that named person. You claim that I cited Mr. Swain's flap with Columbia Riverkeeper as evidence that he is a "fraud."
Not only did I not mention Columbia Riverkeeper (see note above), I did not claim that he is a fraud. Mr. Swain is a kind-hearted but misguided person who goes into different states, starts nonprofits, gets a lot of media attention and leaves without accomplishing much more than getting media attention. Your reporting was sloppy and unethical.
Think critically: An interesting soundbite does not a story make. Any good reporter would have discovered that whatever "table" Mr. Swain brought this issue back on no longer exists. Who's still talking about it? What's different now? Those are basic questions I would encourage beginning reporters to ask. I'm sure you and your editors operate on a more sophisticated level, right?
Do your research: If you had read the column for yourself, you wouldn't have had to depend so much upon your primary source, "limelight-hogging" Mr. Swain, for information. Shame on you.
An apology and a correction are in order.
Yours for quality journalism,
S. Renee Mitchell
Columnist, The Oregonian
Editor's Response: We apologize for stripping Mitchell of her S--though she is referred to as "Renee Mitchell" (without the S) in her own newspaper. (For example, see the July 16 Oregonian, page C1, near the top.) Her email is rmitch@news.oregonian.com, and she answers her phone with a crisp "This is Renee."
Still, Mitchell is correct in stating that she never cited Swain's spat with Columbia Riverkeeper nor called him a "limelight-hogging fraud." We came up with that summary on our own after reading her writing, which included lines like this: "Gag me with a spoon of Columbia River's neuro-toxin soup. Here's a guy who's good at only one thing: Finding causes that get attention."
While we admire Mitchell's crusade for quality journalism, we can't help but notice that she misspelled the name of Nobel Peace Prize winner Rigoberta Menchú Tum in the same column. Not that we would ever suggest that mangling a Nobel laureate is on a par with the crime of dis-S-ing a local columnist!
SENS. AND SENSIBILITY
At least two lawmakers were shortchanged in "The Good, the Bad and the Awful" [WW, July 9, 2003]. Sen. Avel Gordly has played a critical role in budget discussions. In the Ways and Means education subcommittee, she has repeatedly pointed out that without a significantly greater investment in schools, Oregon will not meet the achievement goals set by the state itself and by the federal "No Child Left Behind" law. Meanwhile, Sen. Ginny Burdick deserves credit for shepherding Senate Bill 102, which would limit "ballot-title shopping," through the Senate. The veteran NRA-fighter recognizes that the ability to ballot-title shop is a weapon of mass destruction in the hands of initiative terrorists, and she made SB 102 her priority. The bill is now stalled in the House.
Steve Novick
Southeast Nehalem Street
Editor's Note: A longtime political insider, Novick was issues director for Ted Kulongoski's gubernatorial campaign and is now the legislative coordinator for the Oregon Department of Education.
WWeek 2015