The Newberg Graphic has a little bias problem. It came out in a recent article and opinion piece calling one of the most popular Oregon State Senators, Gary George to resign. And it's four months before the end of his final term, with no legislative session to attend.
The problem surfaced after the paper's reporter David Sale, crashed a private meeting Thursday. There, he acted as a belligerent participant. Further, the bizarre act of a reporter took the form as an apparent advocate for the Oregon Dept. of Transportation (ODOT).
Some professional objectivity. After seeing the above signs on the way to the Dundee meeting, Sale was apparently beside himself.
The meeting was called by Sen. George and was for the purpose of hearing the ODOT representative tell Dundee and Newberg City representatives, a representative of David Wu, and himself the truth about ODOT's byplass plan.
The truth? ODOT has somewhere around a $23 million pork fed earmark dollars via Wu's office to buy land.
What reporter David Sale failed to mention, and what the ODOT rep confirmed is that in order to buy all land necessary to build ODOT's planned bypass route:
- The total land acquisition cost would need to be $200 million;
- ODOT has a $180 million deficit on land purchasing alone;
- and that doesn't even include building the project (another $400-$600 million)!
So, the Newberg Graphic fails to mention the quintessential facts in the story in both it's "story" by Sale or in its editorial farce. It also blames George who had nothing to do with the sign idea, for the sign you may have seen while waiting for traffic in front of you in Dundee.
Wu's office claims it can change the earmark dedication to not be required for buying up land, even to actually fix Dundee. We'll see.
We often ascribe the abuse of power to politics. And for good reason.
But, we rarely look at the greater abuse by those alleging to write objective stories that tell you what you need to know. The Graphic typifies the trashier side of journalism, where opinionated reporters misreport to suit an agenda that doesn't have the truth as its highest aspiration. Rather, the cookie cutter template is fulfilled when it suits.
Senator George, thanks for seeing the push to sensible, workable ways to get the traffic moving: greater capacity in Dundee and eventually the "regional bypass." It is through this true leadership that you are becoming a folk hero for those who have suffered abuse at the hand of this dinosaur media organization and its manipulation of the area news that has made many suffer over a long period of time.
Fortunately, times are changing.
And as far as Eagle Publisher Denny Smith is concerned, you should be ashamed.
Your hands off approach for all these years, letting your newspapers manipulate communities and work at decimating the truth, doesn't speak well of your character. Your hands are red: blood red with the ink of negligence.
The real principle involving Smith's lack of involvement in his own publishing business (he claims this as a virtue) is: "The love of money is the root of all evil."
♦ Please check back later, as we hope to obtain a video of the Aug.14th meeting (Senator George had the video running). It both confirms the information here, both as to ODOT's plain admission of a financially dead project...and more, as well as Mr. Sale's unprofessional and embarrassing reported outbursts.