The new era

Today’s all-local front page represents the shift in emphasis that is driving a lot of our layout changes. It’s not the first time it’s happened, but in the past, it was rare to have a cover with no national or international wire stories. That coverage will still have a home in the paper, but mainly on page A3.

The briefs on the Northwest cover are still a “work in progress.” We’ve added bylines, but city editor Carla Savalli said many of them are still too long.

There’s also the issue of identifying which stories can be told in a few paragraphs and which cannot. Valley editor Jeff Jordan pointed out that today’s item on mercury levels in Priest Lake neglected to point out where the mercury is coming from, for instance. More complex stories will, of course, require more space, and it’s a balance we’re still working on.