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Newsroom meeting with editor Steve Smith

Staff brownbag meeting was today at noon. Editor Steve Smith went through some industry realities, and made some announcements - including plans to aggressively overhaul existing humans/schedules/tasks/management to more effectively feed different platforms such as online, radio and mobile. Senior management hopes to have a restructuring plan in mind by Labor Day. ( Full post )

Tags, food preservation

A murder victim | New jail? | Tribal salmon | Be pigeon-proof | Idaho min. wage ( Full post )

Apple pie in jars, story published today in Food

The story can be found here: "Preserving foods can be a lot easier if we do it together"

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

iSalon quasi meeting

Today's iSalon was a gathering of reporters and editors who wanted an opportunity to ask editor Steve Smith some questions about his panic-inducing blog posting on Friday. Here's a snippet:

In the SR newsroom, we MUST understand and then embrace the notion that print is no longer our primary focus. As advanced as we are in the digital delivery of news (and this conference confirms for me that we are ahead of the industry curve, as innovative and progressive as any newsroom ), we are still too print focused. ( Full post )

Sorry there was no Daily Briefing, none Monday either

No Daily Briefing probably for most of the upcoming weekdays, due to task force for content overhaul. ( Full post )

Same-sex marriage announcement, thin slices, Gonzo the Great

In other news, the S-R published its first same-sex wedding announcement today (Wedding: Anderson-Warehime). Anderson and Warehime are both Spokane area residents. ( Full post )

Show and tell, thick slices, French cheese

Just in time for the content evaluation team (Task force #2) which starts tomorrow at noon, deputy city editor Scott Maben brought in a tabloid-size publication from The Salt Lake Tribune for show and tell. called The Buzz (click image to enlarge) is a free afternoon paper with quick news capsules that are short enough to be consumed in a matter of minutes or seconds - perfect for a commuter on a short bus ride who won't have time to read a whole story, or perfect for reading out loud to your carpool mates. ( Full post )

Kudos and newsroom news

� Inspired by tragedy: A calling to fight fires: Editor kudos for this story about a volunteer firefighter who took part against the recent Dishman fire.
� Then & Now: Patrick McKay still has a lot to 'ad'
� Now everyone can listen up: Technology enhances hearing in large rooms - about a cool new hearing aid feature
� Spin Control 2.0's take on the second day of the New Yorker cover with the Obamas
� news brief about Gozzer Ranch (scroll halfway down the page) in which we provide the name of the mother of a girl who is a potential sexual assault victim. S-R does not identify victims of sexual assault (with extremely rare exceptions?) but editors wondered this morning because people who know the mother might know the girl. ( Full post )

Newsroom News: Efficiency study Q&A&Q&Q

After much anticipation, the eight-person newsroom efficiency study team held a Q&A session today about their report, which is now available for download. Their newsroommates had anywhere between 20 and 30 questions to ask about the report. Scroll down for them - but keep in mind that the questions and answers were about a newsroom structure that does not exist right now. ( Full post )

S-R ethics code at work

Mid-size conversation this morning about the ombudsman column this weekend about conflict of interest. In this column, S-R ombudsman Becky Tallent made phone calls to clear up a rumor that reporter Becky Kramer has conflict of interest in covering Silver Valley property owner issues. A rumor which is not true. Editor Steve Smith said that normally a rumor by itself would not be worthy of newspaper coverage, but in this case he said things worked out. ( Full post )

Mobilizing a news team

To give an idea of the resulting news coverage for the Valley wildfire that started yesterday: Tomorrow's edition will have content coming from at least six different reporters, each tackling a different aspect of the Valley wildfire. We'll have story text and photos, maps and charts, and slideshows have been posted. Outside of those six people, there were photojournalists and mobile journalist(s) who went out there yesterday. More later. ( Full post )

Wildfire coverage, softball, pikas

Unable to find his missing deaf and blind dog, Jim Gibbard is escorted from his burning house at 9700 E. 24th Ave. in Spokane Valley by neighbor Jeri Hughes. Photo by Colin Mulvany, The Spokesman-Review

Yesterday's run at covering a mid-scale emergency, eight houses destroyed in Valley fire, got editors thinking about how to streamline the newsgathering process for the next emergency, including the possibility of using satellite phones as a backup plan to get news and multimedia out to the public as soon as possible. ( Full post )

Newsroom air quality measuring kit

but we like to poke fun of it too. Reporter Jim Camden says it's to determine whether "our stories are so hot, they're radioactive." ( Full post )

No Daily Briefing for the 10 a.m. today

But please expect a small post or two later. ( Full post )

Thin slices and Swedish Chef

Tame meeting today, and the thin slices are as follows: ( Full post )

Newsroom news: More on the efficiency study

As previously mentioned, we're going through a brainstorm phase for newsroom structure. Today's meeting was open to non-members of the efficiency team. ( Full post )

Radio lingo, election news, Mormon crickets

FYI in case there's some confusion, S-R Radio is only live on weekdays. Some editors wondered this morning whether it's confusing when everything we announce about the S-R Radio news says "bottom of the hour." Do enough day-to-day people think in radio lingo? ( Full post )

iSalon: Blogs, journalistic experience, and other points

The original talking point today at iSalon was about a controversy about a Florida newsroom's reorganization. Tampa intern Jessica DaSilva posted on her blog in support of their editor's decision make layoffs as part of a newsroom staff reorganization plan. Readers/commenters took sides on DaSilva's blog, some criticizing her for poor spelling, some who agree with the attitudes on newsroom change, some who think she's an insensitive newsbrat. McClatchy's brainstorm group is talking about it too. ( Full post )

Green lawns of tomorrow, and a correction

The highlight story of the weekend was about Mayor Mary Verner's proposed restrictions for using your home sprinkler system this summer. ( Full post )

Newsroom news

The aforementioned newsroom efficiency study is rolling along. Eight younger journalists, 11 days, kind of like an extended reality TV show, without any cooking or exhibit A or Paris Hilton. Their requirement is to produce a proposal for change in newsroom structure, two or three hours a day until the deadline of July 10. There's an open meeting on Tuesday for other newsroommates' input. ( Full post )