I was covering the Larry Craig hearing for most of yesterday and, though I tried to keep the site refreshed by posting comments, memos and such, I didn't have a chance to read through the entries until late last nigiht. They made me smile.
There were posts from some of the media people I respect most in this town, who offered viewpoints that were enlightening, entertaining, and irritating. There were posts from others I don't know as well with fresh takes on old subjects, or who made comments with which I disagreed entirely. In short, this little blog offered a microcosm of what I like to get when I read a newspaper's opinion pages.
That's why interim Strib publisher Chris Harte's memo to staff yesterday regarding the changes to come to the paper's editorial pages left me feeling queasy.
The queasiness started with him naming Scott Gillespie editorial page editor "on an interim basis."
Just last week, Harte named himself interim publisher while a "national search" is conducted to find a Par Ridder replacement. I saw no similar replacement strategy attached to the Gillespie appointment. Does that mean that by the time Scott has finished that assignment, there won't be a need for an editorial page editor? I remember a time when the Pioneer Press had a sizeable, vibrant staff for its editorial pages. That disappeared with the paper's downsizing and "localization" under Par Ridder, who Avista championed as its publisher until only recently.
Par may be gone, but "local" isn't. It cropped up all over the Harte memo.

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He sees the need for the paper to concentrate on "local, state and regional issues" (which I thought it already did) and I suspect that Harte agrees entirely with Ridder, who told a staffer during a recent meeting that he saw no need for the paper to endorse a presidential candidate, because it had no bearing locally.
Oops, there's that sick feeling again.
It got worse when Harte mentioned that he has issued a "mandate" to Gillespie to move the editorial pages in a direction that "complements" the paper's new strategy of locally zoning the metro pages. Readers who have complained consistently that the lefty editorial pages need "right-sizing" need to note this. Nobody is talking about a change in political slant; everything is just going to get smaller. I'm going to miss reading about issues that might be affecting an area other than my neighborhood. I thought that was what being part of a community was all about.
I didn't always agree with Susan Albright, but I respected her fight to preserve the integrity of her section. And I respect her even more for choosing to walk away from her job, rather than become an administrator for implementing the "mandate" of a man who doesn't even live here yet.