The State of Media in Oregon`s Capital City

(Salem) - The laws that Oregon`s citizens live by evolve from the state capitol in Salem. People here, decide how people throughout the rest of the state live and what laws they have to abide by. Newspapers, television stations and radio stations from throughout Oregon have crews based in the capitol during legislative season, because Salem is where everything happens when it comes to lobbying and lawmaking.

Salem hosts politicians, legislative media crews and more. It is a city of major significance in the Northwest, as more than a quarter of a million people live in the greater Salem area.

So why is it so darned hard for the capitol city to receive any real amount of positive news coverage? Sadly, but with the exception of legislative coverage, when it comes to the ever changing and evolving world of entertainment and media, Oregon`s capitol city has spent more than its share of years in a royal time warp.

But now there is hope. Times change and people and places progress, and Salem is suddenly a hub of fresh, innovative media groups. The movement seemed to begin when Salem`s FM radio station KSND went on the air in 2002.

Salem-News.com was launched in the summer of 2004. The Salem Monthly publication came next, followed by The Salem Business Journal. A media group that works with teenagers started the Ike Box, a coffee house/live music dance hall/video production center in a historic downtown building on Chemeketa St. NE. Finally, Salem`s new broadcast TV station, KWVT Channel-52 went on the air last April.

Salem residents have become accustomed to the climate with time. They expect live trucks and helicopters when something catastrophic happens, and Oregon`s media is always on cue. But we have to remember that news is what it is, and if an unnecessary death has happened, through accidental or criminal circumstances, then the story will probably gain attention.

Often the coverage can help police who are on the lookout for a suspect, other times the coverage can lead to donations for a family that is grieving. The crews are not wrong for covering stories that their stations send them on, but they need to maintain a level of sensitivity with the situation at hand, and the use of good judgment in the field with respect to humanity is a keen but lacking attribute of many news teams.

One example would be the grieving family that has lost a small child. Regardless of legal rights afforded under the Constitution, many of us who work professionally in the business believe that news cameras should not be used to torment people.

Peering over a wall to see the pool that a toddler drowned in at best only satisfies a sick and morbid curiosity. Adding anguish to a family that has just experienced the ultimate loss is not necessary under any standards, yet approaching that family is an acceptable journalistic standard.

In writing this article, I bring to the table years of reporting experience in the local area. I just left Portland station KATU where I worked since 2002 as an Assignment Editor, and then as a Photojournalist/Reporter based in Salem. The station recently terminated my position in Salem and ended three years of specific local Salem area news coverage that was seen in the 5:30 PM News.

For a few months, the KATU Web staff even added each day`s Salem segment to the station`s Website where it was available for residents who did not have the ability to be home at 5:55 PM on weekdays when the segment aired. KATU`s termination of the Salem news segment should serve as a wake up call for everyone here who seeks and appreciates the proper media attention any city this size merits.

We should not let Portland dictate what news coverage we receive. Instead, we should build and develop the media we have, and that requires both advertiser support and community interest.

Many in the industry believe that the news is a simple reflection of what the public demands. It is a subject that one could contemplate for years and perhaps never really answer. As a person who has been asked to produce a local television newscast for Salem on KWVT Channel-52, I will have the opportunity to test my theory- that approaching TV news at a higher level is possible.

Our plan is to show people stories and information that can make a difference in their lives. You will still see police and fire emergencies, crime and all of the other sundry subjects that make the news on a regular basis, but you will also see something entirely different.

It begins with the approach. Who are we speaking to? Can the viewer benefit from certain types of information? What is lacking in this community when it comes to news and information?

To take in a general overview of Oregon`s capitol city, you have to sort out many puzzle pieces.

But putting Salem`s future image into perspective, an image ringed with success, is more a case of connecting the dots. The population base, the need to stimulate the local economy, an insatiable hunger for current news and information; these components should be enough to power local media to the next level. Education is a key component of any success these new media groups will have and it is our responsibility to remind local businesses that "Buy in Salem" has a broader meaning that includes local media. A number of local businesses have invested in cable commercials. This is true in part because corporate national companies can place large numbers of sales people in Salem. Sadly, it is a statistical fact that those sales people make substantially lower commissions feeding corporate America, than they would if they worked for local Salem media groups.

Time and longevity are certain factors that largely affect our potential success. All of the Salem media groups that have formed in recent years are still here, and that means something. We at Salem-News.com remember just one year ago when our site for all practical purposes, did not exist on the Google search engine.

Now and for the last several months, nearly any combination of the words "Salem", "news" and/or "Oregon" will bring Salem-News.com up on the first search page, and our local pictures show up under Google Image searches. As our presence has grown, so has our relationship with the other independent Salem media organizations. With the passage of time, this harmony will surely affect the performance of all, whether it`s Web, TV, radio or print, and result in a better product for our communities.

How do these new media groups relate to long-established media organizations like the Statesman Journal? As a local reporter, I have spent countless hours in the field on stories with my friends from the Statesman Journal. There are only good relations.

When Salem-News.com`s John Strauch was terribly injured in a motorcycle accident and his family was strapped with medical bills that insurance wouldn't cover, the newspaper ran a story to help him out. We don`t expect a whole lot, and we don`t agree on everything, but we have been pleased with relations with the Statesman as well as with KBZY Radio and other groups, like the Keizer Times, the South Salem Post and others.

In considering the pool of media in the Salem area, we must also consider groups like non-profit community cable access programmer CCTV in Salem that helps people learn more about television and video production, as well as televising their ideas, local photographers, and Allied Video that constantly produces impressive programming for local clients.

Then there are the many advertising agencies in the greater Salem area, and many, many others in the field including Web and graphic designers, outdoor media such as billboards and public transportation, and print and production companies.

What is the state of media in the capitol city? It is downright hopeful, it is progressive, and it is moving into the high tech future at a competitive rate. The residents of the Mid-Willamette Valley are every bit as valuable as our neighbors to the north, and since Portland media really prefers to invest resources in Portland, it is in our best interest to say thank you, and start believing more than ever in our own resources, here in place to serve our needs.

With almost 25 years of experience on the west coast and worldwide as a television news producer, photojournalist, reporter and assignment editor, Tim King is Salem-News.com's Executive News Editor. His background includes covering the war in Afghanistan in 2006 and 2007, and reporting from the Iraq war in 2008. Tim is a former U.S. Marine who follows stories of Marines and Marine Veterans; he's covered British Royal Marines and in Iraq, Tim embedded with the same unit he served with in the 1980's.

Tim holds awards for reporting, photography, writing and editing from traditional mainstream news agencies like The Associated Press and Electronic Media Association; he also holds awards from the National Coalition of Motorcyclists, the Oregon Confederation of Motorcycle Clubs; and was presented with a 'Good Neighbor Award' for his reporting, by the The Red Cross.

Tim's years as a Human Rights reporter have taken on many dimensions; he has rallied for a long list of cultures and populations and continues to every day, with a strong and direct concentration on the 2009 Genocide of Tamil Hindus and Christians in Sri Lanka. As a result of his long list of reports exposing war crimes against Tamil people, Tim was invited to be the keynote speaker at the FeTNA (Federation of Tamil Sangams of North America) Conference in Baltimore, in July 2012. This is the largest annual gathering of North American Tamils; Tim addressed more than 3000 people and was presented with a traditional Sri Lanka ‘blessed garland’ and a shawl as per the tradition and custom of Tamil Nadu

In a personal capacity, Tim has written 2,026 articles as of March 2012 for Salem-News.com since the new format designed by Matt Lintz was launched in December, 2005. Serving readers with news from all over the globe, Tim's life is literally encircled by the endless news flow published by Salem-News.com, where more than 100 writers contribute stories from 23+ countries and regions.

Tim specializes in writing about political and military developments worldwide; and maintains that the label 'terrorist' is ill placed in many cases; specifically with the LTTE Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka, where it was used as an excuse to slaughter people by the tens of thousands; and in Gaza, where a trapped population lives at the mercy of Israel's destructive military war crime grinder. At the center of all of this, Tim pays extremely close attention to the safety and welfare of journalists worldwide.