Re: Covering Moscow News

["bill london" <bill_london@hotmail.com>]

Don-
You seemed to be asking for feedback on your news media assessments.
I say continue...please.
I find the combination of news coverage/non-coverage in this area 
fascinating, and welcome your assessments as well.
Another interesting part of the mix is the recent elevation of Daily News 
reporter Steve McClure to position of editor...while he seems to clearly 
indicate he will continue Roger Kendall's policies, your assessments of his 
actions will be interesting.
BL

>From: Don Coombs <dcoombs@uidaho.edu>
>To: vision2020@moscow.com
>Subject: Covering Moscow News
>Date: Fri, 10 Dec 1999 17:02:32 -0800 (PST)
>
>If you think it's desirable for people to know what's going on in town,
>you're interested in how the news is covered. Moscow used to have 3-1/2
>agencies covering the area: The Daily News, the Lewiston Trib, KRFA and
>KWSU (the WSU stations) and -- in a half-hearted way -- the Spokesman
>Review.
>
>The WSU stations dropped out some years ago, when their reach was extended
>to Port Angeles and Bellingham; they couldn't afford to cover or find
>air time for news of dozens and dozens of towns. What they could
>afford was seamless classical music, and the national news shows.
>
>The Spokesman Review now and then covers Moscow, and Friday the paper got
>out in front and looked good. On the front page of the Idaho edition, the
>Spokesman had "Washington State auditors say the administrator of Moscow's
>Gritman Medical Center violated laws and breached ethics while
>(in his previous job) overseeing a hospital in Western Washington." And
>Andrea Vogt, the reporter, put together a long story which jumped to page
>9.
>
>The Lewiston Trib whiffed on the story, which means there will be
>opportunity Saturday morning for the Trib to cover the story in its own
>way or to pretend that it's not really news and ignore it. The Trib has a
>reputation for not taking that last, easy, route.
>
>The Daily News, with all morning to cover the story after the Spokesman
>broke it, chose to use portions of the Spokesman story (which is perfectly
>legal because both newspapers belong to the Associated Press) and add
>nothing of its own. In other words, the Daily News ran heavily edited wire
>copy on a story in its own town. The Daily News also changed the lead so
>that instead of identifying the person (Tom Stegbauer) as the
>administrator of Gritman Medical center, it identified him as "A Port
>Angeles hospital administrator." In the third paragraph, it got around to
>reporting his present employment at Gritman.
>
>Nobody should judge on the basis of one day's papers, but the Spokesman
>definitely did better than the Trib in covering Moscow on Friday.
>
>While the Trib sports section was guessing who the strongest
>candidates were to replace Chris Tormey as UI football coach, the
>Spokesman sports section -- even though it had an earlier deadline than
>the Trib -- reported that three candidates had withdrawn, including Scott
>Linehan, who was one of the Trib's two "strongest candidates."
>(In its defense, the Trib's information appeared in an opinion column, not
>a news story.)
>
>*********************************
>
>On a personal note: I can be persuaded to keep observations like the above
>to myself. All it will take is one or more people letting me know they
>prefer to judge papers by how much "good news" they print. (I tend not to
>communicate when I'm depressed.)
>
>Don H. Coombs
>
>

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