Posted inSalem Weekly

Desperately seeking these Salem Weekly issues

Salem Weekly was our city's alternative newspaper from 2004 until 2018. I loved reading it. I also wrote a Strange Up Salem column that appeared in it from May 2013 to May 2015. This was the cover of the issue where my first column ran. The drawing was by the multi-talented Salem Weekly publisher, A.P. Walther. Though Salem Weekly is no more, it isn't forgotten. Jim Scheppke, retired librarian for the State of Oregon, is working to have every issue of Salem Weekly bound and preserved professionally. The volumes will be made available to the general public. Mark Wigg and…
No Comments
Posted inSalem Reporter Salem Weekly Statesman Journal

“Salem Reporter” is a new Tokarski-funded online news site

Here's some interesting news about the news industry in Salem. Read all about it in a Poynter story, "Salem, Oregon is getting a new online news site. 'I'm pretending there's no other media there.'" And they already have a website! Leslie Zaitz is the publisher and editor of the Malheur Enterprise in Vale, Oregon. Larry Tokarski is a businessman and real estate developer with strong connections to Salem.  On Sept. 17, the Salem Reporter will go live with Zaitz as CEO and editor and three full-time reporters who will cover “local government, schools, business, nonprofits and state government,” according to a press…
2
Posted inCitizen involvement City Council Salem Weekly

Great idea: Salem could have a local online paper

The Statesman Journal is doing a poor job of reporting on local news here in Salem. But what's the alternative? Well, an opinion piece in The Guardian is about how people in East Lansing, Michigan formed a local paper, East Lansing Info. About a decade ago, my historic neighborhood was facing the possibility of a giant commercial development being built just down the hill from us by a company known to have a troubled history. Worried about our way of life, the president of my neighborhood association and I started going to city council meetings. Watching our city government came…
No Comments
Posted inCity Council City of Salem Larry Tokarski

Statesman Journal reporter criticizes Salem Weekly for story his paper didn’t cover

I've got no problem with reporters dishing dirt on stories from another news outlet. But it sure seems that if they do this, their own coverage of the issue -- or in the case of the Statesman Journal, non-coverage -- becomes open to critiquing.  Yesterday Statesman Journal reporter Jonathan Bach tweeted about a follow-up story regarding the Creekside development and Lone Oak Road in our town's alternative paper, Salem Weekly. Gordon Friedman, who used to be a Statesman Journal reporter and now works for the Oregonian, chimed in with a comment on Bach's tweet, as did another person. Here's my…
1
Posted inSalem Weekly

Salem Weekly needs to survive. But how should it change?

The most recent issue of Salem Weekly asks a self-reflective question on the cover: "Can Salem Weekly and Other Alt-Weeklies Survive the Tides of Change?" I'd include a link to this cover story, but more than a week after the November 23 bi-weekly issue hit the streets, as of this writing the Salem Weekly web site still hasn't been updated to include content from that issue. Which points to the problem facing Salem Weekly: A.P. Walther, the publisher, is marvelously dedicated to keeping the paper afloat, but along with many other alternative papers around the country, the Salem Weekly ship…
No Comments
Posted inCity Council City of Salem Salem Weekly

Salem Weekly’s bright ideas for the new City Council

Salem Weekly, our alternative newspaper, is an indispensable voice for those who aren't listened to by the Powers That Be in this town. The Salem Weekly editorial board leans decidedly progressive, but that's as it should be in Salem, a city that votes liberal. Here's their end-of-year editorial -- a wish list of ideas to be considered in 2017 by the new City Council. New, because there are three fresh progressive faces on the council.  Naturally I couldn't resist adding in my own comments (in blue) on each of the 18 ideas. 18 IDEAS FOR THE NEW SALEM CITY COUNCIL…
3