- Willamette Week
Articleissues|article=y
cleanup=January 2007
trivia=June 2007Infobox Newspaper
name = Willamette Week
caption = Cover (with a logo that predates the paper's September 2007 redesign). [ [http://wweek.com/editorial/3346/9612/ Extreme makeover: WW Edition] from the September 26, 2007 edition]
type =Alternative weekly
format =Tabloid
foundation = November 1974
owners = City of Roses Newspapers
circulation = 89,807cite web |url=http://aan.org/alternative/Aan/ViewCompany?oid=oid%3A99 |title=Willamette Week |accessdate=2007-02-23 |publisher=Association of Alternative Newsweeklies ]
price=free
publisher = Richard Meeker
headquarters = 2220 NW Quimby St.
Portland, OR 97210
USA
editor = Mark Zusman
ISSN =
website = [http://www.wweek.com/ wweek.com]"Willamette Week" ("WW") is an
alternative weekly newspaper published inPortland, Oregon ,United States . It features reports on localnews ,politics , andculture ."Willamette Week" is the only alternative periodicalFact|date=November 2007 to have one of its reporters win a
Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting . [http://www.pulitzer.org/year/2005/investigative-reporting/ The paper's Pulitzer Prize] from thePulitzer Prize website] During 2007, "WW" had more 18- to 34-year-old Portland-area readers than the weekly editions of "The Oregonian " and more than "A&E", the latter's weekly arts and entertainment publication.Features
As part of its news coverage, "WW" features the "Rogue of the Week", in which a recent action by a local person or organization is criticized. It also spotlights "Winners and losers", recapping major news events of the week, from the perspective of who benefited and who did not.
The paper publishes "Callahan", a long-standing comic by John Callahan.
Notable stories
Notable stories first reported by "WW" include:
* Making public
Neil Goldschmidt 's long-concealed sexual misconduct with a fourteen-year-old girl. Goldschmidt, a former Oregon Governor, was mayor of Portland at the time of the abuse. After the "Willamette Week" contacted him for comments on their impending story, Goldschmidt confessed to the relationship in an interview published in the "Oregonian" before the "Week" story was set to print. However, the alternative weekly first broke the story on its website. [cite web | first = Nigel | last = Jaquiss | title = The 30 Year Secret | publisher = Willamette Week | date =May 12 ,2004 | url = http://www.wweek.com/story.php?story=5091 | accessdate = 2006-12-16]Nigel Jaquiss won the2005 Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting for his work on the story. It was only the fifth time in the prize's 88-year history that a Pulitzer was awarded to a weekly paper, the only time the Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting has been awarded to a weekly and the first time it was awarded to a paper that first broke the story on-line.* Revealing that
Lewis & Clark College president Michael Mooney had made an unauthorizedloan to an energy startup on which the company had defaulted. [cite web | first = Mark | last = Zusman | coauthors = Jaquiss, Nigel | title = The Mooney Trail | publisher = Willamette Week | date =June 4 ,2003 | url = http://www.wweek.com/story.php?story=3988 | accessdate = 2006-12-16] The story lead to Mooney's eventual resignation.* Sifting through the
trash of the Portland's mayor,police chief, and thedistrict attorney for Multnomah County, after prosecutors argued that refuse was not protected by the Fourth Amendment. [cite web | first = Chris | last = Lydgate | coauthors = Budnick, Nick | title = Rubbish! | publisher = Willamette Week | date =December 24 ,2002 | url = http://www.wweek.com/story.php?story=3485 | accessdate = 2006-12-16]* In 1984, WW published a story that revealed a number of falsehoods in the stated biography of Pat Gillis, a Portland legislator who had been considered by many to be the future of the Republican Party. Gillis was recalled from office.Fact|date=February 2007
* A 1987 article by Mark Zusman and Kay Durham about homeless activist
Michael Stoops , founder of the Baloney Joe's homeless shelter. Their story charged Stoops with extorting sex from homeless male teenagers in return for shelter and food. While a subsequent investigation confirmed the article's charges (including evidence that a number of boys had contractedgonorrhea of the throat), Stoops was fired and Baloney Joe's eventually closed. Nevertheless, the article resulted in a backlash at "Willamette Week" and a significant loss of advertising revenue. [cite web | first = Dave | last = Fitzpatrick | title = The Broken Halo | publisher = Willamette Week | date =November 10 ,2004 | url = http://www.wweek.com/story.php?story=5718 | accessdate = 2006-12-16]* In 1990, reporter Jim Redden (now with the "
Portland Tribune ") breaks a story alleging that Larry Hurwitz, the owner of Starry Night Nightclub (now the Roseland), was responsible for the disappearance of Tim Moreau, an employee. Hurwitz sues WW for libel. The case is thrown out. Redden leaves the Willamette Week and foundsPDXS , a bi-weekly tabloid that sustains a heavy focus on the Hurwitz case. Following the confession of George Castagnola, who allegedly aided Hurwitz in the murder, Hurwitz plead no contest to the murder. [cite web |first = JD | last = Chandler | title = Rock n Roll Homicide | date =May 4 ,2006 | url = http://portlandcrime.blogspot.com/2006_05_01_archive.html | accessdate = 2007-05-13]* In 1998, reporter Maureen O'Hagan (who later goes to the "
Washington Post " and becomes a Pulitzer finalist at the Seattle Times) breaks the story of two Grant high school kids, one who was the student body president and the other a track star and homecoming prince, who were responsible for 20 armed robberies. Both boys go to prison.Fact|date=February 2007* A 2004 exposé on
Mary Manin Morrissey and herLiving Enrichment Center .Fact|date=November 2007Finances
The paper is free; it generates over 80% of its revenue through display advertising. [http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/departments/ad_circ/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003673937 At Age 33, "Willamette Week" Has Best Year Ever For Display Ads, Publisher Says] , a November 2006 article from "
Editor & Publisher "] For 2007, its revenue is expected to be about $6.25 million, a four or five percent increase over 2006, a growth that occurred in spite of a significant decline inclassified advertising that the publisher attributes to competition fromCraigslist . Its pre-tax profit is around 5%, a third to a half of what large mass media companies require.Trivia
*In recent years, Publisher Richard Meeker (who authored a book about the founder of the Newhouse media empire) has grown the paper's charitable efforts. In 2006, it raised and donated almost $250,000 to Portland area non-profits.Fact|date=February 2007
*"WW" is also the producer of MusicFest Northwest, a three-day music festival that has become a regional draw.Fact|date=February 2007
*"WW" is the co-founder of Candidates Gone Wild (with the
Bus Project ), a series of political debates/performance art.Fact|date=February 2007*"WW" alumni include
Katherine Dunn ,Janet Weiss (ofSleater-Kinney ),Susan Orlean .Fact|date=November 2007*Meeker and Zusman also publish a weekly newspaper in
Santa Fe, New Mexico called the "Santa Fe Reporter ".Fact|date=February 2007References
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
