Great moments in reporting: Portland edition

by David Safier

Since Portland is my old home town, I decided to check the local paper, the Oregonian, to see how it covered the eviction of Occupy Portland folks from two parks. I watched the paper's video and encountered this incredible line:

"Spectators lined the streets surrounding the park like an audience to a reality show."

Say what? Spectators? The video shows supporters holding candles, as you can see in screen shot at right.

Note to reporter: As you must know, Portlanders don't carry candles with them at night. The city has had electric street lights for years. Those are supporters, not spectators.

Reality show? The people in the park aren't being paid by a TV network to pretend to be acting like real people. They are real people making a real unpaid statement. You, Mr. Reporter, are the one who can't separate the real world from "reality" TV.

The best part of the video, by the way, is streams of bicyclers riding on the streets around and around the park. That's as Portland as it gets.