LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

[August 3rd, 2005] THE FOX AND THE NEWSHOUNDS

The justification Patrick McCreery, news director for local Fox affiliate KPTV Channel 12, gives for his tabloid-style stories is eerily similar to that of Hollywood movie executives offering excuses for the excess of their industry ["First. Live. Loco," WW, July 20, 2005]. Like the Hollywood execs, McCreery claims his product is "reflective of the community," based on ratings. And he dismisses as "force-feeding" the notion of running stories that might enrich the community's civic dialogue.

Two thoughts come to mind in reaction to McCreery's quoted comments. The more cynical one is that they reflect the inevitable end of any distinction between television news and entertainment. The other, which I choose to believe, is that tabloid ratings' success is no more reflective of the community than are box-office receipts for the latest Hollywood blockbuster or slasher flick; the almost unintentional success of movies like Whale Rider and March of the Penguins, to name just two, show that community members crave quality.

With this in mind, perhaps if McCreery and his ilk tried as hard to investigate, decipher and honestly explain the meaning and impact of public policy and decisions, as they do teasing and terrorizing us, they just might find an interested, engaged viewership, with commensurate commercial rewards. It might even become as self-fulfilling a prophecy as McCreery's notion that tabloid trash is what the public wants today. And it would certainly be more in keeping with the public obligations Channel 12 and other broadcasters signed on for when they obtained their licenses to use our airwaves for their commercial ventures.

Alan Willis
Southwest 19th Avenue

I'LL TAKE THE HIGH ROAD, YOU TAKE THE LOW ROAD

What is really striking in your article about Fox 12's ratings success ["First. Live. Loco," July 20, 2005] is the lack of strategic thinking on the part of the other stations in town. Legitimate news stories about public policy and community issues, outside of those dealing with sex and violence, are scarce on all the local news stations.

What would happen if one of the stations took the high (and highbrow) road, instead? Portland always ranks near the top when it comes to ratings for NPR, the Jim Lehrer news hour and Air America radio.

Oregon Public Broadcasting doesn't offer a local version of the Lehrer news hour, presumably because of insufficient resources. A commercial station, however, could make serious money tailoring its news shows to the same niche.

At least it would be smarter than trying to be the "sleaze lite" version of Fox 12.

Gil Johnson
Southeast Belmont Street

EYES ON THE TUBE, EARS TO THE GUTTER

It's all too humorous that, on the week Stephanie Snow is interviewed in Willamette Week [Q&A, July 13, 2005], the Parents Television Council steps up to fight the real enemy: rock concerts raising money for the world's poor.

Apparently, sitting in front of their TVs for interminable hours watching over-the-hill hypocritical rockers sing about African debt relief opened the PTC's eyes and ears. Then, with the spirit of the music coursing through them, the PTC rose up in one voice and responded to the rockers' call, proclaiming, "Hey, was that a dirty word?" The proper government agency was quickly alerted; now we can only hope that the FCC adequately responds to stop the suffering.

Yes, thankfully we still have well-fed, resource-sapping suburbanites to stand up for the impoverished in this world, rescuing them from ever hearing an F-bomb during their short lives of agony and starvation.

Luke Jones
Southwest Plum Drive

MAKE A DIFFERENCE-GET OFF THE COUCH

I don't know who to shake my finger at more: Willamette Week for printing the story of a Beaverton mother's crusade against indecency on television [Q&A, July 13, 2005] or Ms. Snow for turning her potentially uplifting concern for the world into a mediocre swing at said indecency.

WW's mission is to "Provide our audiences with an independent and irreverent understanding of how their worlds work so they can make a difference." What's independent about a mother joining a million other parents in a complaining spree aimed at the FCC? A story about a mother who kinda-sorta sticks to her guns in a household that, if filmed, may or may not be suitable for family viewing is as irreverent as a piece of toast.

But, I digress, because the real problem seems to lie between the profundity of the world's woes and the confusion through which we, as privileged citizens, rationalize our lack of real participation in helping to dissolve them.

Don't like violence? Volunteer at the local shelter for battered women. Homelessness on your mind? Build a house with Jimmy Carter. Don't like what's on national television? Give money to PBS. There are thousands of organizations set up to make it easy to create lasting and meaningful hope out of even the slightest bit of concern.

Concentrating concern, thereby hope, on a problem that is easily resolved (TURN OFF THE TELEVISION!) is just as effective as doing nothing whatsoever.

Erin Osborne, Mother
Beaverton