News meeting / puppet show

Alert viewers of our news meeting may have noticed this morning that editor Steve Smith was wearing socks on his hands. The socks, he says, are a reminder to avoid drumming or thumping his fingers against the table, which some viewers have said is a distraction. While there has been discussion of involving sock puppets in the Webcast (actually, it’s mainly been me suggesting it and others rolling their eyes), it’s not a reality. Yet.

(Note to the irony-impaired: We’re not really going to use sock puppets in our meetings. That’s a joke.)

Bailey the Beaver

“You can’t go wrong with a fuzzy little furry critter on page one,” Smith said of this morning’s story on an area beaver’s dental work . The story has actually been in a holding pattern for quite a while (the story file was created on June 9), but it’s common practice to hold feature stories for days when you need them.

There was a lot of reaction to the photo when we were discussing it at yesterday’s news meeting, and one viewer from Illinois commented that she’d like to be able to see the photos that we’re looking at. It’s a possibility we’ve discussed, but it’s not technologically practical at this point. In the meantime, when we have a particularly interesting or noteworthy photograph to discuss, I’ll post it up on the Daily Briefing as soon as the meeting’s over (or before, if we’re able to anticipate a discussion or round of admiration).

For the record

As discussed yesterday, a correction ran this morning clarifying that Annette Sandberg is not a finalist for Spokane police chief. However, there’s some question as to whether or not the story was incorrect at the time it ran. Smith is convinced that we had the right information at the time, but there’s no way at this point to really know for sure.

“Secrecy enables that type of question to occur,” assistant city editor David Wasson said.