I dragged my out-of-shape body, sore from pedaling, to the doorstep early one Monday hoping to see big coverage of the Providence Bridge Pedal in The Oregonian.
Instead, I found only two photos of small groups of riders. Where were the tens of thousands like me reflected in words or pictures?
I should have known better. A wonderful intersection of Oregonians passion for recreation and compassion for others yields a walkathon or race for a cause almost every week. But at the newspaper, interest is slight, and priorities for covering those are uneven.
On the heavy side, the Race for the Cure last month rated a centerpiece Metro cover story, two feature stories in suburban sections, a My Workout profile and calendar items before the event, and front page coverage of the race.
But the Portland AIDS Walk the following weekend attracted a 3-inch advance item and a short Inside Metro story afterward.
And no mention was made before or after the National Kidney Foundation of Oregon and Washington walk on Aug. 17.
Admittedly, the newspaper must sort through dozens of such events, especially in summer. In Portland alone in the past year, people walked, rode or raced in at least 21 events just for health causes. I confess that for several years, I did much of the sorting of that coverage for weekends, often inconsistently.
Fund-raisers shouldnt be the heart of coverage of important, health-related issues, yet when tens of thousands participate in such walks each year, the newspaper should see those as opportunities for public service or insight. Reporting on these events can offer a window into the underlying issue or the humanity touched by it. And the coverage can affirm the deeds of a community that cares and makes Oregon special.
The newspaper usually tries to apply news principles in choosing what to cover: How many participants are expected? Is it the first such event? Does it require a huge commitment? Is it the largest annual event for a community? The Race for the Cure and the AIDS walk met many of those tests, but editors also admitted recently at a meeting on covering such walks and festivals that persistent public relations campaigns, rather than news values, also can sway them. As with any subject, the coverage also falls prey to the whims of editors and competing news demands.
Readers deserve better, starting with the minimum of being told of events occurring and how they can participate or avoid congestion. That means it should be easier to publish such information. But if you call the newspaper with information today, you likely will get several answers on where to send it.
Readers should be able to find the information easily. The newspaper should advance the heavy season with a listing of all events, create a regular calendar for them and make advance items a staple of zoned sections.
Readers should see stories based on news value, not lobbying by slick public relations efforts. (And organizers should know that resorting to freebies, from T-shirts to water bottles, only make journalists, who shouldnt accept gifts, wary.)
Readers also should expect watchdog journalism. I cant recall an enterprise story that followed the money raised. Is it all spent on T-shirts, or does most go to the cause?
And readers should have a newspaper that simply is aware of what is happening and what matters in the community.
Take that kidney walk in late August.
The walk tries to raise awareness that in Oregon and Washington alone, more than a million people have kidney disease and half of the 1,000 people waiting for a kidney likely will die. A team walked the 5 kilometers in support of Jody Cheek of St. Helens. She spent countless hours cheering up dialysis patients, volunteering for the foundation and, naturally, organizing this years walk.
Cheek, who was waiting for a new kidney, died Sept. 13, of complications from kidney disease at the age of 42.
