Palunchitics Wrap-Up

Those of you who couldn't make it today missed a great Palunchitics. As Scotty mentioned previously, Moscow-Pullman Daily News managing editor Steve McClure was gracious enough to stop by the Hilltop this afternoon and chat with us over lunch about our local newspaper. We touched on many subjects, including:

- The new printing press
- The size of the paper and newsprint
- The economic issues facing the Daily News
- Fact checking, plagiarism and columnists
- The Washington Post's proposed "hyper-local" coverage
- The struggles of big city newspapers and the success of small town ones.
- The possibility of a Sunday edition
- The new Washington cell phone law
- The balance between Pullman and Moscow coverage
- The tricks sometimes required to confirm stories or getting to the facts (such as Hillary Hamm's exposing of the PARD serial lie about not receiving union support)
- Editorial consensus, or the lack thereof, on certain issues
- The Associated Press' heavyhanded attempts at copyright enforcement
- The future of the Daily News, both print and web versions

This is not the first time Steve has visited with us. He attended the first Palousitics blogfest back in December 2006.

While I certainly don't agree with the Daily News on every issue (anonymous commenting and lack of comments moderation on Dnews.com being my biggest gripe,) I think Steve is a good guy and that the Daily News is overall pretty centrist and does the best it can with very limited resources.

We are trying to line up a local elected official for the August Palunchitics. Stay tuned.