A city commissioner in Portland, Ore., sparked something of an Internet firestorm this week with a pair of posts to his official city of Portland blog slamming the local newspaper, the Oregonian.
In his original post, titled “Going Richard Sherman on the Oregonian,†Steve Novick says commissioners feel attacked by the newspaper’s “criticism and contempt.â€
Taking an example from Seattle Seahawk Richard Sherman, whose post-game on-air interview sparked a thousand memes that will be forgotten by the closing whistle of the Super Bowl, Novick rants on the Oregonian, calling it “mediocre†because it only delivered four days a week and because it has had to lay off journalists. Novick also makes mention of “sorry Orange County right-wing publisher†N. Christian Anderson III.
After being linked on Romenesko and talked about by journalists around the country all day on Twitter, Novick wrote a follow up piece saying, that, no, he didn’t mean to include the reporters when he insulted the newspaper. “I guess I could have caveated my post with the same things I’m saying here… but that wouldn’t have made it a very good trash-talk,†he wrote.
I guess I don’t know how things work in Portland, but we don’t have city commissioners blogging here, let alone blogging with the sort of confidence it takes to openly and immaturely attack a newspaper (without the decency to allow comments on the post).
Personally, I’d like to see a commissioner start a blog and keep it updated regularly in Bozeman, even if it means an occasional flame war.