Question: I watched the breaking news on television regarding the foiled attack on JFK airport on Saturday morning. I then had to leave town and saw or read nothing until I arrived home Sunday afternoon. I opened the Sunday Spokesman-Review and expected to see headlines and a full story with photographs and maps of the area regarding this frightening potential attack, only to find the lead story on the front page an article that seemed to me to be of no earthshaking importance and could have been relegated to one of the inside pages. So I was forced again to leave the paper behind and turn to television once again for a more in-depth report regarding this event.

So here is my question to you: If the plot had not failed would the story have then qualified for better position on your front page? – Richard Emerson, Post Falls

Answer: If the JFK plot had not failed we certainly would have played it bigger on the page. We make similar decisions on stories of this nature all the time. A failed plot, in most instances, is not as newsworthy as a destructive plot that succeeds.

Unfortunately, terrorist plots have become all too common in our world today. When a plot fails, it is less significant unless there are extremely unusual circumstances involved. I would note that Monday’s New York Times contained a follow-up story on the plot on Page A19, not the front page. And it quotes the U.S. attorney involved in the court proceedings as saying the “public was never at risk” and that law enforcement “had stopped this plot long before it ever had a chance to be carried out.”

I also need to point out that we’re a local newspaper and we place the bulk of our emphasis on local news. I’m not sure to which of our front-page stories you were referring when you wrote that one could have gone on an inside page. The story about low-income residents who are about to be evicted was every bit as important to our readers this past weekend as a failed plot on the East Coast. With a heated mayoral and city council election coming up this summer in Spokane, I would argue the story about the candidacy filings this week is equally important. – Gary Graham, managing editor

Why not ‘tax effect’ gas prices?

Question: I’m curious why media outlets in general and the S-R in particular don’t “tax effect” gasoline prices in comparison reporting. While the federal fuel tax on gasoline road fuel is uniform, the state taxes are not. Thus, comparing pump prices in Spokane with those in Post Falls or Coeur d’Alene without adjusting for the state tax differential seems to result in inaccurate reporting. This type of reporting seems to be uniform throughout the land and, I suspect, masks regional marketing ploys by the vendors. Thanks for answering my question. – Eugene Tracy, Spokane

Answer: We probably should include that element in future reporting. I guess my feeling is that our reporting on state gas taxes by our legislative reporters has been thorough and it is a factor in the price per gallon of which people are aware. It seems to me that what consumers are most interested in knowing is how much gas costs, where they can get it the cheapest and why it is that prices are above or below national averages in our region. While that last factor can be a hard one to nail down, the statewide gas tax is certainly a contributor. – Alison Boggs, business editor