Shame On You, KOIN

So news breaks that they may have found the climber’s snow cave on Mt. Hood (Fort Hood, according to some CNN folks) as well as equipment. So at my office I flip on to KOIN, the only Portland news station that we get in Bend, they cover a noon-time news conference for a few minutes, and then go back to their precious NFL football game — and it wasn’t even a close game

So I flip to CNN, and they’re using video from KOIN. So KOIN is still covering it, but doesn’t want to lose NFL advertising revenue. Fox News is using the same video.

Shame on you, KOIN. There’s a chance that these guys may be found — dead or alive — within the hour or so, and you can’t even sacrifice your precious revenue for the good of the community. Instead, I’m forced to watch CNN’s version of this, where they’ve been known to call it Fort Hood.

Truly a sad day in Oregon news coverage for those of us that live outside the Portland area.

Update at 2:20: Oregon Media Insiders has a good thread about this, but the thread seems to be the same. KATU and KGW are putting news online, but God-forbid they preempt their crappy Golf and Ice Dancing (NFL’s just a tad more popular than that).

But some sad news: Rescuers reached the cave, but nobody was inside. So back to the drawing board, and let’s hope they find another cave as that’s really about their only chance of survival at this point.

Update at 4:30: One climber found dead.