Ask the editors: Does the publisher dictate?

Question: I’ve heard a rumor that the editorial board’s decision to endorse Peter Goldmark in Washington’s 5th Congressional District was reversed by the owner of the paper. Can someone there comment on or confirm that? – Natasha Celine, Olympia

Answer: Untrue. This rumor appears to have originated with a class presentation I made at Eastern Washington University, where I used an anecdote dealing with the 2004 Senate race between Patty Murray and George Nethercutt. I was illustrating the role a publisher can take in the endorsement process (after all, the publisher is the institutional voice of the paper and the edit page is supposed to reflect his views).

In the case of the S-R board, Stacey Cowles rarely invokes his ultimate authority. More than other papers with which I’ve been associated, Stacey participates and supports the collaborative/ consensual editorial board process.

But he can exercise his authority as he did in 2004 when the board was divided and probably would have, left to its own devices, supported Sen. Murray. Stacey wanted us to endorse Nethercutt and we did.

In the 2004 5th District House race, we endorsed the Democrat, Don Barbieri, over Cathy McMorris and did so unanimously.

I did not address the McMorris/Goldmark race in the EWU class except to play a voice mail message from a reader who was dropping his subscription because we endorsed her.

I will not go into the details of the board “vote,” insofar as we had any sort of deliberation. But, the decision was not a close one and I, personally, urged the McMorris endorsement. I went into the campaign with an open mind, and based on our endorsement of two years ago, was thoroughly prepared to endorse the incumbent’s opponent. But I did not see Peter Goldmark grow as the campaign progressed.

I walked away from the table that day and told the editorial page editor that I believed we should endorse McMorris. I won’t speak for the others, but assure you the endorsement reflected the board’s strong consensus and the editorial was written by our editorial page editor and approved by the entire editorial board. – Steve Smith, editor

Why not cover Seattle debate?

Question: I believe I have seen all of last week’s editions of The Spokesman-Review, but if I only read this newspaper for my news, I wouldn’t have known that we had a U.S. Senate debate on Oct. 17. Why was it not covered? – Janice Moerschel

Answer: You make a good point. Indeed, we should have published an Associated Press report on the debate. We may have been too preocupied with covering the McMorris-Goldmark debate, which was taking place on the same day here in Spokane.

As political reporter Jim Camden reports in a note to me on this subject, we did cover a Cantwell-McGavick debate, which took place here on Oct. 12. We published that story on the front page. We’re not trying to ignore the race, but it’s campaign season and there are a lot of important races and developments to cover. If statewide candidates venture over into Eastern Washington for debates or campaign appearances, we try to cover as many of those events as we can. – Gary Graham, managing editor