Flight of journalists to government jobs continues

by NW Spotlight

It hasn’t even been a month since Dave Lister’s article on all the Portland-area journalists jumping ship for government PR jobs, and now Willamette Week is reporting that award-winning Melissa Navas is leaving the Oregonian to go to work for Multnomah County’s communications staff.

In his article last month, Dave Lister wrote “It’s very troubling that in recent months several prominent area journalists — the latest being KGW’s City Hall reporter, Randy Neves — have left their media posts to join the growing ranks of government spokesmen. The very people we used to look to to watchdog the claims of government are now being paid to make those claims, and the spin cycle is on high. With professional journalists crafting government press releases, the sound-bite media often reports them as news, unquestioned and unchallenged.”

Commenting on the decline at the Oregonian, a WW blogger posted “Will last one out the door please turn off the lights.”