Inside the editorial page
Inside the editorial page

This blog is designed to give readers a glimpse of our editorial-page operation and how we make our decisions. We’ll let you know who we’re meeting with, what they’re telling us, what events and issues we’re looking at. We’ll also pass on information and observations that may not make our print editions. In addition to the editorial board members who post on this blog, the board includes Publisher David Zeeck, Executive Editor Karen Peterson and Managing Editor Dale Phelps.

Editorial board bloggers

Editorial page editor Patrick O’Callahan oversees the online and printed opinion sections of The News Tribune. He came to The News Tribune in 1987 and has worked at Washington newspapers since 1979. E-mail him at patrick.ocallahan@thenewstribune.com

Editorial writer Cheryl Tucker, in addition to writing commentary, manages the daily production of the editorial and op-ed pages and edits letters to the editor. She began her journalism career in 1974 at a Virginia newspaper and came to The News Tribune in 1978. E-mail her at cheryl.tucker@thenewstribune.com.

Editorial writer Kim Bradford manages the online opinion section of The News Tribune and writes commentary. She joined The News Tribune in 2005 after working 11 years at newspapers in Washington and Maryland. E-mail her at kim.bradford@thenewstribune.com.

Guest bloggers

Editor emeritus David Seago retired from The News Tribune in 2008 after 41 years at The News Tribune. E-mail him at sds99@harbornet.com.

Richard Davis’ column on state politics frequently runs in the print edition of The News Tribune. He was president of the Washington Research Council, a statewide think tank, from 1986 through 2006. Currently, as a principal with The Simeon Partnership, Inc. he coordinates the activities of the Washington Alliance for a Competitive Economy, a business coalition founded by the Research Council, the Association of Washington Business and the Washington Roundtable.

Karen Irwin of University Place, a mother of four, has been a frequent contributor to The News Tribune's print editions. She has also written for Seattle's Child, Puget Sound Parent, the Tacoma Weekly, the Fayetteville Observer Times and the political blog Right Meets Left. She graduated from California Lutheran University with a degree in English literature and is currently working toward a history degree.

Michael Allen, professor of history at the University of Washington Tacoma, was born and raised in Ellensburg. He served with the U.S. Marines in Vietnam from 1969-70. He has written five books, including the prize-winning "Patriot's History of the United States: From Columbus' Great Discovery to the War on Terror," "Rodeo Cowboys in the North American Imagination" and "Western Rivermen, 1763-1861: Ohio and Mississippi Boatmen and the Myth of the Alligator Horse." Allen lives in Tacoma and Ellensburg and has three children.

Follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/tntopinion.

Calendar
November 2008
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
 << < Current> >>
            1
2 3 4 5 6 7 8
9 10 11 12 13 14 15
16 17 18 19 20 21 22
23 24 25 26 27 28 29
30            
Archives
XML Feeds
What is RSS?
Misc
Who's Online?
  • FV Email
  • Dirtdawg Email
  • artman77 Email
  • MrSinister Email
  • Guest Users: 386
What's on the minds of Tacoma News Tribune editorial writers
Saturday, November 1st, 2008
Posted by David Seago @ 08:08:55 am

Perhaps the prospect of being able to hear the audio of, say, a 2007 legislative hearing on geoduck farming regulations does not thrill you.

But that's not the point. It's important to keep good permanent records of government at work, and that's why Secretary of State Sam Reed deserves a little credit for his latest announcement.

OLYMPIA – The Washington Office of Secretary of State’s Digital Archives, in a partnership with Microsoft Research, today announced it is hosting a new speech-search technology that will dramatically change how Washingtonians are able to access important public recordings.

The Washington Digital Archives is the first government program in the country to offer Microsoft Research’s Audio Search technology, which takes record keeping to the next level: it doesn’t just preserve audio recordings – it gives people an innovative way to search through them.

Read on for the rest of the press release. Thanks to ever-observant Jason Mercier, the Washington Policy Center's point person on state and local government reform, for alerting us to this one.

=> Read more!

Categories: Taking notice
Posted by Kim Bradford @ 06:56:06 am

Say what you will about The New York Times, but it sure does endorsements up right. (Before you all fill up my in box, I said "does," not "decides.")

The paper has a very cool interactive graphic on its site that traces its presidential endorsements back to 1860.

You can see how many times the paper's endorsement paralleled what happened at the polls. You can read what editorial writers had to say about Lincoln (apparently his profession as a rail splitter was evidence of his fitness for the job). You can verify that the Times hasn't endorsed a Republican for president since 1956.

One thing that jumped out at me is how big a role a candidate's temperament plays in winning the New York Times endorsement (or justifying it, if that's your bent). Makes sense – what good are heaps of experience without the right reflexes?

Categories: Election