And the morning drags on into afternoon
The Daily Briefing has been stuck in meetings all day, hence the delay in today's summary of the 10 a.m. news meeting. To wit:
The smoking ban Q & A was another example of our efforts to find new ways to package information. The piece seemed a bit out of place in its location on page one, but that's largely a matter of expectation. We're still wrapping our brains around the idea that a "news story" doesn't always have to look the same. Reception was generally positive, although pointing out in the lead that Washington's law is the most restrictive in the nation would have given more general importance to justify front-page play in Idaho.
Judging a book by its cover
In the midst of discussing this morning's coverage of the opening of the Christmas Bureau (some felt the "need" metaphor was a bit pushed, others thought it worked well), questions came up regarding the need level of the patrons. One staffer had reported a suspicious number of late-model vehicles in the parking lot, others wondered about the new-looking Columbia coat one mother was wearing in the centerpiece photo. Journalists are trained, of course, to always be skeptical.
Steve Smith said the only complaint he had about the bureau was that the screening we put patrons through might be too rigorous (a look at Colin Mulvany's video briefly shows people lined up in front of the computer terminals for processing). People have to go to great lengths to establish their need before benefiting from the contributions.
The 2003 pickup in the parking lot may belong to a volunteer, for instance. The new coat may have been purchased two years ago when times were better. And so forth.
D'oh!
Alert readers may have noticed that, save for the "Ask Brian" feature, today's weather graphic is exactly the same as yesterday's. Fortunately, the forecast for Wednesday turned out to be accurate for Thursday as well. The weather report is a graphic that we download from Accuweather, and someone dropped the wrong one on the page. An easy mistake to make, but that's no excuse.