Question: I have in front me as I write this a copy of the The Spokesman- Review and a copy of the Wenatchee World. Here in the Okanogan we are able to get the Wenatchee World through home delivery. The Spokesman-Review is available by direct, daily purchase. I often read both papers side by side.

On Aug. 24 I was struck by the singularly unflattering photo that you chose of Gov. Chris Gregoire as she toured the forest fires plaguing our region. Nearly the same photo was used by the Wenatchee World; both photos were taken from the same vantage point, and I would assume by the same photographer. The Wenatchee photo was bylined as AP photo/Ted S. Warren. Your photo was bylined Associated Press.

In each photo Gov. Gregoire is in a helicopter, a map in hand, and to her left through a window is the smoke and haze of the fire.

I asked two other people to whom I showed the photo whether or not I was overreacting. Both agreed that your photo is by far the most unflattering to Gov. Gregoire.

I hope there is another reason than an obvious political one for such an overt choice of photographs. I know you own and operate the newspaper, and you can choose what to print, but I would hope that The Spokesman-Review would confine editorializing to the editorial page. – David Lindeblad, Omak, Wash.

Answer: Frankly, I’m dismayed by two points of your note. First, I disagree entirely with your conclusion that the photo of the governor is unflattering.

I took another look at the photo before preparing a reply to your note. Here’s what I see in the photo: Gov. Chris Gregoire devoting her full attention to the map and the conversation with the Department of Natural Resources employee. She’s doing her job, not posing for a glamour shot. I don’t see anything at all unflattering about that photo.

The other point I’d like to address is your assumption that we would let our editorial page views influence our selection of photos or stories for the front page. In my role of managing editor, I oversee the nightly selection and placement of stories for the front page. My front page decisions on stories and photos are based on importance, quality, timeliness and relevance.

As the managing editor, I have no influence over the editorials or the editorial pages. I am not a member of the editorial board, thus I do not help decide whom we endorse or which causes we support. I assure you that our editorial page editors have never asked me to choose a particular photograph or story for placement on Page 1 because it might support an editorial position or cause.

I’m disappointed that some readers choose to assume the worst, i.e., our front page editors have some political agenda that influences our story and photo selections. I have never taken into account the editorial board’s position on an issue when considering which stories or photos belong on the front page and I never will. – Gary Graham, managing editor

What happened to datelines?

Question: One thing that often troubles me as an Idaho reader of your paper is the lack of datelines. You have gotten better at it in recent years but there is still often no clue in the headline or the lead about where the story takes place.

It happened again Aug. 8 with the front page story about a petition for a disability definition (“Petition asks for review of disability definition ruling”). The first mention that this story was in Washington, and therefore had no impact on me, was in the fourth line of the story.

As a newspaper serving readers in two states I am asking you to be more clear about the “where” of your stories in the headline or the use of a byline. This is needed more now that you have changed the “Handle Extra” section to more of a regional focus.

While I’m on the subject, it seems there are times our stories get confused between Washington and Washington, D.C. The most geographically confusing story I remember was one about something that happened in Lewiston, mentioning something about the Lincoln County government, putting the happenings, without ever mentioning it, in Lewiston, Montana. I think your editors missed that one.

Anyway, I’m hoping you’ll watch this carefully. I’d appreciate your comments. – Rick Price, Sagle, Idaho

Answer: I wish there was a simple answer or solution to the problem you’ve cited. Unfortunately, there’s no quick answer or fix. But I agree that it can sometimes be difficult or confusing to determine the location or geographic identifier for a particular story.

We circulate in two states and publish stories that are often connected to Oregon, Montana and Canada. Our stylebook identifies 20 cities in the state of Washington – and every town in Spokane County – that don’t require the state identification when they are listed or referenced in our stories. In addition, our style lists nine cities in Idaho, six in Montana and two in Oregon that don’t carry the state designations.

Associated Press, of course, has its own style. AP lists 30 U.S. cities that they don’t identify by state and 27 foreign cities that are not identified by country.

The exclusion of a state or country identifier is presumably based on the long-held assumption that reasonable people know Atlanta is located in Georgia, Chicago is in Illinois and Paris is in France. The same theory holds for cities and towns in which a newspaper is published, but the lines easily become blurred and debatable.

Carla Savalli, our senior editor for local news, adds this thought: “I think this is a common problem among newspapers because we wrongly assume readers know the location of every landmark, when in fact, we know a lot of people live and work within particular neighborhoods or sections of town and aren’t as familiar with other areas.”

Do we insult readers sometimes by stating the obvious location? We probably do, especially if you are a longtime resident of Spokane, Sandpoint, Colfax or Coeur d’Alene, for example.

As we continue to cover topics, trends and events that crisscross our region, we’re mindful that we need to do a better job of clearly identifying the relevant cities, towns and locations. Our goal is to make it easy, not difficult, for you and the rest of our readers to know where the news is happening. – Gary Graham, managing editor