Willamette Week

Like. Most newspapers WW is a thin shadow of what it once was. Still it has tried to preserve what it was best at. It has been far more successful than say the Oregonian.
The paper has a mix of regular features (ask Dr Know your questions.) Articles on current events, and listings for things to do.
I no longer read every issue. But I’m still a fan.

The WW is tight with the OLCC. If you read the other reviews, one reader mentions the WW «Hit List» this is one of the issues with the WW. Still giving it two stars though as how it is a free publication all over town. Cannot give it 3 starts as it really should now be the Washington Week as it caters to Beavertonians, Republicans, and the anti-​marijuanaics.
BEWARE SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS! Small businesses have been pulling ads because of WW «hit list» game.
One example of the WW acting like secret police is the Beervana Buzz: Who killed Dean’s Scene article. Pete Dunlap ends his article blaming a victim harassment for agreeing to be interviewed by the WW, Willamette Week. REMEMBER NEVER LET THE WW INTERVIEW YOU (according to Pete Dunlap). It’s a nice piece all about blaming someone who became victimized for ever giving the WW the time of day. The article gloats– puts down it’s readers and beer geeks, which is odd because the column is called Beervana Buzz. The WW staff are just very uncool. The Beervana Buzz «reporters» went to a home brewers home, and then reported to the OLCC that the brewer makes 30 gallons of beer a week, which is a BIG exaggeration. Anyhow WW covers beer because Portland loves beer– it would be great if their Beervana Buzz were not acting as secret police for the OLCC. Pete Dunlap stated in the article Who killed Dean’s Scene? that a reporter’s job was just to pay bills. It is odd when someone brags about having no ethics or morality like it somehow makes them more clever or alpha than the rest of us. WW covered the closing of Dean’s home-​brewery like they had somehow done a public service. Dean’s crime was that instead of running a for profit bar, he had people over for drinks, brewed beer, and had a donation box in case people wanted to help out. The WW found this unacceptable. In fact they published the PRIVATE LETTER SENT TO DEAN FROM THE OLCC– it is still on line. Know what’s creeper than having a «news paper» post your private mail online? How did the WW get the letter? How are they so close to the OLCC? Dean’s PRIVATE OLCC letter states in the legal letter that the WW posted that an unrevealed media report was the tip off source for OLCC needed to take action. Wonder who the mystery media was? Pete Dunlap seems proud to state that journalists have no responsibility for obvious consequences, no social or moral obligations, and in fact their only obligation is to pay their bills (evidently by any means necessary.) Guess it reads well with the WW base. The WW having the column Beervana Buzz is ridiculous considering the fact that their reporters have gone to the OLCC is hopes of making news with their inaccurate, exaggerating informants. Then they kept gleefully reporting on how this wonderful place was closing due to their interview.
FYI I remember a time when I really respected this publication. I never missed a issue for many years. That was back in the old days before it eliminated any/​all staff that were not deemed conservative enough. At this point their reader base has shrunk so much in Portland, that they should really just drop the Willamette, and rebrand to fit their actual base and agenda:
The Washington Week for all the Trump loving folks over in Beaverton.

Blah, blah, blah blah, liberal blah blah blah
Blah, blah closet Republicans blah, blah, blah, blah
Blah. Blah, Blah!!!
Bullies, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, BLAH BLAH !!!

It is rag papers like this that is giving Oregon a reputation to the rest of the nation. If that reporter talk to me like he did that candidate

BEWARE SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS!
It looks like Willy Week has just put out their first «Hit List». I can’t believe they put together such a thing targeting a specific sector of Portland’s small business. Who is next? Coffee shops? Book stores? Day care centers? Tattoo artists? Barber shops and hair salons?
I am a local small business owner and I am concerned they may want to target my profession. I am pulling my advertising dollars with them and I highly recommend you do the same. They DON’T support US. They apparently use us for fodder.

Another one of Portland’s free newspapers. This one seems to be put together well. I am usually in to these newspapers for concert announcements and films but the way the articles are constructed makes me not discard this newspaper so quickly once I have gone through it once.

I heart the Willy Week.
Cheeky articles (and most have objective journalistic writing – a rarity in today’s media), snarky reviews, and lots of band advertisements that let me know who’s coming to town (it sure beats getting stupid Ticketmaster e-​mails!!).
I am fortunate this weekly delivers to my work campus, so I can just walk down to the cafeteria and pick it up. :)

Free weekly tabloid found in Portland and Vancouver paper machines, coffee shops, restaurants and lobbies. Every now and then they run a article that I’ve not seen elsewhere. To me it’s a must read publication.

I pick up an issue of the Willamette Weekly every week. What can I say? I love it. I like the Portland Mercury better… thanks to Dan Savage, however, the Willamette Weekly used to be my favorite because they would advertise what places had open mics. Unfortunately, the past couple weeks, they have taken out, or failed to include this feature so I am a bit POed. Other then that… I really enjoyed the BEST OF PDX issue.

Well, I’m biased because I just interned for this hipster local alt-​weekly. I don’t find any of the staff pretentious at all, in fact, quite the opposite. Everyone there really loves what they do and they all work sooo hard to make the best paper they can muster every week.
The paper itself is dedicated to finding the most interesting and irreverent stories about the Portland area. And yeah, some of those writers are the rick reilly/​dave-​barry-​esque type that find the humour in the most bizarre, arcane subject matter, and twist it into something both relevant and hilarious.
The Merc is kind of the little bro of the Willy Week (but we don’t say that of course) — a little more crass and a little less investigative. But hey — we always need the Star/​US/​Smut entertainment! it sells! (sorry merc)

The Willamette Week has the rare distinction of being one of the only weeklies ever to win a Pulitzer Prize. This happened a few years ago, for its coverage of the long-​suppressed Goldschmidt scandal. Disclosure/​sour grapes note: pre-​Pulitzer Nigel Jacquiss once interviewed me over the phone for a part-​time, unpaid internship at the WWeek and flipped me attitude right and left, asked questions like, «What was the last great book you read?» and then cut me off mid-​answer. I was completely unsurprised when I was not offered the internship, but found it pretty hilarious that an interview for an unpaid job making Starbucks runs was conducted in such a high-​pressure, attitudinal manner.
I’d add the paper also takes itself a little too seriously given that, for every real, investigative news piece they run on the cover, there’s something about the «raging controversy» over the Brazilian wax versus the, uh, au naturel look. That said, for the most part they’ve earned the right to take themselves seriously, with a good weekly roundup of local news, as well as very decent A & E coverage. Geared toward a slightly older, more serious audience than the Merc, but only slightly.

Same as the Mercury. weekly, grounbreaking news based on the thought process that you don’t have to be wearing a suit and tie to report the news.
Extensive coverage of LOCAL news, events, artists, and general goings on.