SR.com Blogs: News is a Conversation

War and Mother's Day (Steven A. Smith)

Good morning,

I received a few calls over the weekend from readers who believed showcasing two war-related packages on Mother's Day was inappropriate. ( Full post )

A naming names update ()

Good evening,

Actually, it's early morning in Sweden. But I have a few minutes available to get back to the Better Business Bureau "Naming Names" discussion.

In the earlier thread, there are several comments from readers of Jan Quintrall's column who take issue with the editing decisions we made in her first-of-the-year column identifying the worst offenders in local business. I also received several e-mails and have read a great deal of Jan's correspondence. Yes, the reaction was nearly universally supportive of Jan's complaint. ( Full post )

Our new code of ethics (Steven A. Smith)

Good afternoon,

It has taken some time, but we're finally done with our new code of ethics. It goes into effect today.

In addition to the online version (link here), we'll print the code in the Sunday paper. ( Full post )

Naming names (Steven A. Smith)

Good morning.

Perhaps you saw Jan Quintrall's Better Business Bureau column in this morning's Business section.

Here is the link.

Jan takes issues with an editing decision from January which resulted in the removal of the specific names of 10 businesses that received the most unresolved BBB complaints in 2007. ( Full post )

Rebecca Mack on the police ombudsman (Steven A. Smith)

Once again, I am reminded that we really are lucky to have landed Rebecca Mack for the Hard 7 column on Fridays.

Her column today on the "ombudsman lite" plan is simply outstanding. Here is the link. ( Full post )

Swinton cleared of conflict of interest (Steven A. Smith)

Good afternoon,

Thanks to Tim Connor, who blanketed the western world with an e-mail announcing the decision (and vowing to appeal), we know this afternoon that Connor's conflict-of-interest, unethical conduct charge against SR lawyer Duane Swinton has been dismissed by the Washington State Bar Association Office of Disciplinary Counsel. ( Full post )

Do you read .TXT? (Steven A. Smith)

I am curious --- do any of you read the .TXT section in the Monday paper?

.TXT is the section devoted to the Internet, blogging, websites and tech gadgetry.

Would you be more or less inclined to read .TXT if it were an online-only feature? If it were in print on Sunday instead of Monday? ( Full post )

Reporting bomb threats (Steven A. Smith)

Good afternoon,

So this is the yin to my previous post's yang.

There was a bomb threat today at EWU that led to the evacuation of hundreds of students faculty and staff from campus buildings. We had a brief on the threat and evacuation posted on our website for a time. ( Full post )

This is why we say "no" to embargos (Steven A. Smith)

Good afternoon,

This is a fascinating and troubling story out of Columbus, Ohio.

(Link here)

Seems the Columbus Dispatch learned a regional airline serving the area was going to shutdown. They accepted an embargo on that news so were able to send a reporter out on the last flight. She knew all aboard had one-way tickets, that once arriving at their destination, they would have to find other ways to get home. ( Full post )

Seeking access to Duncan courtroom (Steven A. Smith)

Good afternoon,

Here is a tough one for folks to think on tonight.

This afternoon, The Spokesman-Review, in the lead and with the philosophical and financial support of most Eastern Washington and Idaho news organizations, filed a brief with United States District Court Judge Edward Lodge asking the judge to ensure public and press access to all elements of the Joseph Duncan sentencing procedure now underway in Boise. ( Full post )

Yes, we should have covered Elton John (Steven A. Smith)

Good morning,

I really appreciate the feedback on this blog and at Huckleberries Online re: the Elton John concerts.

At our news meeting this morning, the group agreed we should have done something with the concerts in order to live up to our value that states "we reflect the life of our community in all of its wholeness and complexity." ( Full post )

No Elton John (Steven A. Smith)

Good afternoon,

Not much controversy with the morning paper.

But I did get a couple of calls demanding to know why we had no mention of Elton John's Pullman concert Saturday night in the Sunday paper.

Well, this is another case that begs the question (and you've heard this before) what is news? ( Full post )

The nuts are back (Steven A. Smith)

Good afternoon,

It's spring, so it should not be surprising that a few of our local nut jobs are back on the blogs, trying to hijack threads and do their crazy thing.

We have firewalls and filters that are pretty good, but not infallible. ( Full post )

Online or print...a new question (Steven A. Smith)

Good morning,

We had an interesting discussion this morning on Gov. Gregoire's visit to Spokane yesterday.

It was a campaign stop during which she delivered what will be her opening stump speech to a crowd of about 200.

We had previewed the appearance and the speech at the top of the Northwest section on Tuesday. ( Full post )

Lytle seeks change of venue (Steven A. Smith)

It is not at all unusual for the defendant in a high-profile case to cite unfavorable press coverage as the reason behind a change-of-venue request.

But lawyers for Jonathan Lytle, accused of the torture and murder of little Summer Phelps last year, have included every article, every blog post and every related document published by the SR as part of the two-year Our Kids: Our Business project as the reason Lytle cannot get a fair trial anywhere in our circulation area. Here's the link to today's story by Meghann Cuniff. ( Full post )

Radio, Day 1 (Steven A. Smith)

Good morning,

We made our debut this morning on KJRB. Good work by Dan Mitchinson and Dick Haugen gives us a professional sound right off the bat.

Our two-minute news cut-in at the bottom of each hour showcases our staff's growing breaking news capability. So far today, each newscast has been fresh with the latest news off our website. ( Full post )

Reporting from Iraq (Steven A. Smith)

Producer's note: Here's the related video clip of the 10 a.m. discussion on Tuesday Apr 8, where editors talk about the coverage from Baghdad.

Get the Flash Player to see this video. ( Full post )

Another Payne Award (Steven A. Smith)

Good morning,

The SR has won its second Payne Award for Ethics in Journalism.

We won in 2005 for the ethical processes we followed and our transparency during the Jim West investigation.

The latest award, announced today, is for requesting and then publishing the Washington News Council report on 10 years of River Park Square coverage. ( Full post )

Radio newscasts/West Plains Voice (Steven A. Smith)

Good afternoon,

Two important SR content initiatives launch this week.

Our hourly radio newscasts on KJRB-790 begin Wednesday morning. For the first few weeks, the broadcast team of Dan Mitchinson and Dick Haugen will be working out of the KJRB studio while our newsroom studio is finished. ( Full post )

Comics crossword (Steven A. Smith)

Good morning,

I've said it before, I'll say it again. Nothing -- and I mean absolutely nothing -- angers readers like a mistake in the crossword puzzles.

We had two weeks of puzzle confusion in the Sunday comics section.

Problem is, we don't do the comics section here. We buy it from an outside vendor, in Denver, and it is printed weeks in advance of distribution. ( Full post )