journalism 101

I was at my favorite coffee haunt today (Crema bakery+cafe) when I spied a stack of the free monthly PDXmagazine. I like it as an antidote to the slickly produced Portland Monthly, so I took a look at what was on offer. There was a section entitled “Downtown Cultural District: A taste of Portland’s rich center” written by Nathan Peasley. If you pick up the magazine it starts on pg. 58 and extends to pg. 62. Here’s the part that I found amazing. On page 61 they talk about PCPA (Portland Center for the Performing Arts). There’s a whole paragraph that covers the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall – I’ll quote the first part of the paragraph that caught my eye:

Actually part of PCPA, the legendary Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall is another must-mention hub of Portland culture. Built in 1928 and wonderfully restored in 1984 the Schnitz is home to some of the biggest acts that roll through town such as comedy and concerts; they also play host to lectures, dance performances, theatre [sic], opera, symphony and so on.

First of all, there are no opera performances at the Schnitz – those all take place at the Keller Auditorium, which is also under the auspices of PCPA. Second, there is no recognition that the Oregon Symphony has any presence at the Schnitz, even though we are the PRIMARY tenant in the facility, and the largest cultural organization in the entire state of Oregon. At least there was a generic “symphony” mentioned before “and so on”.

We’re not the only ones slighted this way – none of the other primary performing arts organizations which use any of the PCPA facilities are named. This is an “article” about the cultural hub of Portland, and you can read the entire article without being informed that there are: the Portland Opera, the Oregon Symphony, the Portland Youth Philharmonic, Whitebird Dance Series all being resident companies of the PCPA. Unbelievable, and poor journalism to boot.