Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Oregonian caught red handed in biased reporting

When I read it for the first time I did a mental double take. It certainly didn’t sound like something Dave Hunnicutt would say to a reporter at the Oregonian. He’s far too experienced and savvy to say something like this, which would play into their hands as they try to marginalize him and anyone who cares about property rights.

It was in yesterday's Oregonian -the story about how the “Big Look” committee was being disbanded. The real reason, of course, is obvious: now that the Dems are in control, they don’t need any Big Look committee out there that they don’t control, which might actually call into question the D’s power plays such as gutting Measure 37. So they de-funded it.

So the reporter talks to Hunnicutt, and here is the quote:

David Hunnicut, president of the property-rights organization Oregonians in Action, said the task force was a good group, with "none of the usual suspects," which to him means knee-jerk liberals.

When I read it I thought: Did Dave really say to this reporter that the usual suspects are “knee-jerk liberals?” Or was that blatant editorializing by the reporter?

I kept reading, thinking that he must have said something of the sort, because even the Oregonian wouldn’t allow such blatant bias. Wrong again.

Today the Oregonian published a short and very, very vague retraction:

“David Hunnicutt, president of the property rights group Oregonians in Action, said the membership of a "Big Look" land-use planning task force contained "none of the usual suspects." By that he meant people from both sides of the issue who usually fight about land-use planning. A Metro cover story Monday incorrectly ascribed another meaning to his statement.”

Notice how they didn’t actually print what meaning the reporter DID ascribe to his phrase “none of the usual suspects.” That would be too revealing.

What a bunch of hacks.

3 comments:

Ken said...

Rob, who was the reporter? I went to the O's website to find the story in question, and for some strange reason, it didn't come up in their search engine...

Unknown said...

I'm shocked and not shocked all at the same time.

That paper really has no shame yet alone any real purpose left anymore. It just keeps sliding towards AM radio style angling the more its real sales decline.

Anonymous said...

Today there's an article blaming "the rich" for driving up sewer rates in Clackamas County. New subdivisions of elite homes are apparently finally forcing new treatment capacity to be constructed. I guess if they were modest homes, the new capacity wouldn't be needed because the middle class don't shit as much.

The article then goes on to identify - halfway through - the real culprit: the government which has not added new capacity in many years and which is in fact paying extra to have their sewage piped to Oregon City for treatment.

It also laments the fact that in the 60s and 70s the federal government paid for 75 percent of new treatment plant construction. I guess raising sewer rates for poor folks in Alabama was ok in those days, but God forfend we do it for Oregon residents.