Ruiz is to journalism what Adams is to public leadership.

Ho hum, log-rolling in our time. You really expect anythign diff from most columnists who are more concerned with advancing an agenda than finding truth?

Hopefully, having Ruiz in Adams' office (former Oregonian journo Wade Nkrumah is also there) will mean that folks like me can get real answers to questions because Ruiz will know where I'm coming from. hopefully.

i hear your concern Jack. and I now feel even more pressure and motivation to start asking good questions and to start covering City Hall more closely.

As for Matt Davis. I think writing a positive story doesn't necessarily mean you can no longer be critical of the subject. I think a good journalist writes the story they feel needs to be written -- whether it's positive or more skeptical and probing.

I seriously doubt Mr. Davis is in "love" with anyone at City Hall.

Hopefully blogs will pick up some of the slack. Sadly it's unlikely that anyone will pay you or other bloggers to go to all of those boring public meetings and wade through and distill all the mind-numbing reports and other paperwork city government produces. But there's always Comcast Channel 30 . . . .zzzzzzzzzz.

@ Hopeful: I'm fairly sure that Amanda Fritz is the ONLY person I've ever met in Portland that watches channel 30... Now that she's on the inside, their total viewership is going to take a dive!

Wade Nkrumah once described the Baloney Joe's development pipedream as the "Burnside Beachhead."

A more accurate description perhaps ... but wrong nonetheless.

Sadly it's unlikely that anyone will pay you or other bloggers to go to all of those boring public meetings ...

Which is why B!X was an under appreciated city treasure.

Markalope: I try to watch the public meetings on Channel 30 from time to time, but they don't grab me the way the stuff on C-SPAN and C-SPAN2 does.

How much will we be paying the former columnist for an alternative news weekly to be a "strategic planning" advisor for the city?

This stuff would be a public embarrassment in any more serious city.

This was in the Guardian the other day (warning, a bit lefty for some tastes):

"Buy a newspaper for democracy"
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/dec/28/internet

I know you take great pride in saving a few pennies a day and not buying the Oregonian but maybe it's time to rethink. Papers have a role, even if it's just providing 90% of stuff for bloggers to whine about, and without them it will be a much poorer world.

I buy the NYT at the weekend even though I've read half the stories already online. Having paid money I find myself reading sections I skip when flicking through web pages, plus I like supporting the only US organization still following the money (2 trillion and counting) in Iraq. It's the same logic behind buying books at Powells, or some other local bookstore. I may be wasting a few dollars (compared to the online price), but if it means I improve my chances of being able to browse in a real bookstore for years to come it's a no brainer.

It seems print journalism is headed towards NPR style fund raising and corporate sponsorships. I guess I'd be willing to pledge the NYT and one local rag.

Matt Davis is a persistent public watchdog and will continue to be so as long as his greencard allows. After covering the sit/lie ordinance more so than anyone else, he is glad to see someone from the city seem to care about the homeless.

The Merc is good because their news duo covers stories that other outlets skip over.

Jack started going to Blogtown? Or did he just click on the link from Oregon Media Insiders and then read a few things?

The Merc is good because their news duo covers stories that other outlets skip over.

uh huh. you mean like, say, this top story?

c'mon. even the Mercury makes fun of the Mercury. scraping snarky, four-letter hipsterism into a pile and calling it "journalism" requires a serious suspension of disbelief.

story link deleted above:

http://www.portlandmercury.com/portland/not-invited-back/Content?oid=1011095

Ever since Busse left, the Merc isn't as effusive about "doin' blow" ...

It seems to me that there is a formula: hip cool reporters and columnists are cheerleaders for those whom we are supposed to perceive as hip and cool themselves; case in point, Nick Fish, to whom Oregonian columnist Anna Griffin also recently wrote a love letter. Objective fact finders are ousted.

What is really scary imo, is that Mr. Fish is on the board of advisors to the Campaign for Equal Justice, along with other interested politicos, like Mike Schrunk and Karen Garst of OSB, among others. This entity, which provides funding to Legal Aid Services of Oregon,creates the illusion that it is maintaining the integrity of the justice system, when it is actually creating a perception that an historically troubled system is just.

Real whistleblowers and watchdogs have never fared well here.

You aren't kidding, Cynthia. The slightest criticism of how things are run in Portland, and the experts on "Portland being the most liveable city on Earth" (where "liveable" is defined by the number of people whose income is dependent upon the magic words "trust fund," "insurance settlement," or "grow house") will almost literally whine the critic to death. After a while, it's not worth the effort, because trying to change things just wastes your time and annoys the pig.

You learn almost nothing by attending public meetings. To a great extent, they are shows designed to impress the public. The real action occurs behind the scenes before issues ever arise in public meetings. This is why investigative reporters are so essential - they can dig up information that public officials don't want citizens to know about. Bloggers just don't have the time or training to match what good investigative reporters can do if they're not restrained by editors worried about offending their advertisers.

It was an out of state investigative reporter who finally broke up a legal racket in the Marin County California Family Law Court. It seems like local reporters somehow become part of the problem; I think it is because they listen to "experts" who are interested.

Something interesting imo is that John Kroger picked Oregonian legal reporter Ashabel (Tony) Greene for his staff. Sounds like a good combo. Hope it works out to the benefit of the everyday citizens who are being hurt by abuses.

Amy Ruiz isn't a Journalist in any shape or form. Most of her babblings in the Mercury were all too obvious rewrites of local DNC, City hall and Blue Oregon press releases. Her "story" about how Democrats won various seats in East Multnomah County failed to mention how all the Democrat candidates outspent their opponents by 2 to 1. How else can one account for a nobody like Nick Kaul that lives in a dump in Rockwood and who had virtually no name recognition winning a seat in the legislature?

Hi Jack. I got an email in New York telling me to go to your site, and I couldn't resist! [There goes my effort to preserve a "work/life" balance while on vacation—I'm supposed to be meeting my family for breakfast right now...] I'm on vacation until Friday Jan 2, but would really love to get your opinions and feedback about how best the Mercury can continue to dog city hall.

As for the love letter, in my view, Fish deserved the positive writeup this time around. If you scan through my coverage of him over the last six months, much of it has been highly critical and challenging. It's all about being fair and balanced.

Perhaps you'd like to grab a coffee with me some time this weekend? I don't mind making the trek out to Irvington. 503 502 2106 is my cell number.

Thanks for reading.

It's all about being fair and balanced.

no, it's not, unless your name is Fox News. then, it's a marketing slogan.

you see, if a journalist needs to write an article to acheive "fairness and balance" in past work, that means past work was "unfair and unbalanced." in other words, the concept is generally absurd.

though journalists debate what the role and goal of journalism should be, there's general agreement on this: be responsible.

responsible means, at the very least, this: have high standards of work. write the facts. check them. be honest. when seeking truth, report the sides of the story as best as possible.

in other words, if you're sticking to a mantra of "fair and balanced", then *make every story fair and balanced.*

other than that, writing a story to "make up" for a lack in previous work is a dangerous path, and not a very credible one.

"plus I like supporting the only US organization still following the money"

Ummm...the NYT were part of the media wank-fest that gave the Iraq war a gold seal of approval.

"Perhaps you'd like to grab a coffee with me some time this weekend? I don't mind making the trek out to Irvington."

What I wouldn't give to eavesdrop on that conversation.