A new approach to old-fashioned journalism

It’s a new day in journalism, especially for small community newspapers like your Lewiston Tribune and Moscow-Pullman Daily News.

We are relying more on relationships in the Northwest journalism community to ensure we continue to provide the quality reporting needed to meet our readers’ needs. And that’s a good thing.

As you may have read in Sunday’s edition, longtime Idaho political and Statehouse reporter William L. “Bill” Spence has filed his final story as a full-time journalist. After 13 years with us, Spence has retired and is looking to enjoy sunny skies from places far and wide. He has vowed, after getting some rest, to submit stories on occasion, though they will likely be more about his travels and less about Idaho politics.

In his place at the Idaho Capitol is reporter Laura Guido. Here’s where some of those journalism relationships come into play.

The Idaho Press at Nampa also found themselves with a significant hole in their reporting roster with the retirement of another longtime political reporter, Betsy Russell.

Working with the Nampa-based newspaper’s publisher, Matt Davison, and managing editor, Teddy Feinberg, we reached a joint reporting agreement. This means Guido will be filing stories for the Tribune, Daily News and Idaho Press that have statewide significance, while maintaining a close watch on lawmakers and issues relevant to north central Idaho.

And Guido is no stranger to our region. She is a Washington State University graduate whose family continues to call Pullman home. Before switching to the Statehouse beat, Guido was city editor at the Idaho Press. This is her first time covering the Idaho Legislature, but she knows the ins and outs of the political process, having previously reported on the Washington state Legislature.

I’m also happy to share that we are continuing another Northwest journalism relationship, this one with Northwest Public Broadcasting based in Pullman at Washington State University. For the last year, reporter Rachel Sun has been sharing health care-related stories both in print at the Trib and Daily News and by radio broadcasts at NWPB.

That reporting position has been funded through a generous grant from the Lewis-Clark Healthcare Foundation. Unfortunately, we couldn’t secure the grant again this year, but all involved at NWPB and our two papers agreed that Sun’s health care reporting is too valuable to lose. Just this week, we reached a funding agreement, which means the ramped-up health care reporting we’ve been able to provide readers this last year will continue.

It wasn’t so long ago that sharing resources with “competitors” was out of the question. But in these challenging times for newspapers and local journalism in general, doing things the same old way is no longer possible. And as I said before, that’s a good thing.

Clohessy is managing editor of the Lewiston Tribune and the Moscow-Pullman Daily News. He can be reached at cclohessy@lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2251.