Last Updated: August 13, 1999
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An American Editor
Strengthening community bonds is what The Spokesman-Review
under Chris Peck is all about
Chris Peck, 48, has been editor of The Spokesman-Review in Spokane,
Wash., since 1983, a time that has seen significant growth and improvement
of the newspaper. Peck is a lifelong westerner, growing up in Wyoming,
graduating from Stanford (bachelor’s in communications, ’72), and working
in Hailey and Twin Falls, Idaho, before coming to Spokane as a columnist
in 1979. He and his wife, Kate Duignan, have been married for 22 years,
and have two teen-agers, Sarah, 17 and Cody, 13. He has overseen much distinguished
and award-winning work in the inland Northwest, and has a deep and enduring
passion for journalism and newspapers. But, in his heart, he is an accordion
player and considers a breakfast interview with Myron Floren “a career
highlight.”
Q. The Spokesman-Review has been an innovator in reaching out to
the community to stimulate and lead conversations about issues that matter
in Spokane and the surrounding region. What drives you to do so? How does
that fit into ASNE’s work on increasing the credibility of newspapers?
A. I’m convinced the future of newspapers depends upon the strength
of the connection between the newspaper and the communities a newspaper
serves. At The Spokesman-Review, we purposefully look for ways every week
to realign our staff and open up our pages so that we maximize the interactivity
between our readers and the newspaper. Early in the 1990s we invented the
first Pizza Papers discussions where we bought hundreds of pizzas for any
neighborhood group that agreed to organize a neighborhood discussion about
the future of Spokane. At the end of the decade we’re working on a civic
mapping project that will show us where to find better sources of information
about our region. Strengthening connections to our community is the most
critical work we do.
Q. A big part of that process has been the development of a new kind
of editorial page, featuring “interactive editors” and pro-con editorials
presenting opposing views on an issue. How does that work and how does
it make the editorial page different from others?
A. Fun and fresh aren’t words that would have described our editorial
pages a few years ago. Fusty and formulaic were closer descriptions. I
believe the ivory tower of editorial pages should be knocked down and rebuilt
into a kind of public square where people with ideas, arguments, and suggestions
about civic life are invited to have their say. At The Spokesman-Review
we did that. We knocked down the old pages and built a new public square
around three interactive editors whose job it is to find and assist others
who want to express their ideas and opinions on our editorial pages. We
run interactive commentary from readers on most Sundays. We run a page
of letters to the editor every day. We run guest political cartoons. And
we invite members of the community to join our editorial board and write
editorials with their own bylines. This shift in emphasis away from the
ivory tower to the public square has been one of the most well-received
changes I’ve ever made at a newspaper.
Q. The newspaper is greatly improved overall under your leadership.
How has that come about?
A. As an editor I simply try to stay focused on what I consider my three
most important tasks:
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Articulate a vision or core ideology of what the Spokesman-Review is about
and make sure each person in the newsroom understands his or her role in
supporting this vision.
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Nurture a newsroom culture that rewards innovation, resists cynicism and
treats people with respect.
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Hire and promote talented folks who understand our core principles, then
let them spread their wings and succeed.
Q. As a result of that success, your newspaper has become a popular
place for large metros to shop for talent. How do you develop talent and
maintain consistency despite the turnover?
A. I mourn the loss of every talented person. I fight to keep every
talented person. If I fail, I use the departure of the talented person
as the bait to try to lure the next talented person here. The only good
thing I can say about losing good people to bigger papers is that it makes
it a teeny bit easier to recruit. That being said, I think a critical success
factor at most newspapers is the ability to keep your core group of human
talent together.
Q. In an era of big public newspaper companies, The Spokesman-Review
remains family — and locally owned. What’s it like to have your publisher
be the owner? And does being such a prominent and venerable locally owned
business affect the relationship between the community and the newspaper?
A. Local, family ownership is a key reason the Spokesman-Review is as
successful as it is today and a reason why many good newspaper people continue
to want to stay in Spokane. Having a publisher who is also an owner means
that the number of people you have to convince to do the right thing is
down to one. Stacey Cowles, the fourth-generation family publisher, genuinely
cares about Spokane and wants a quality newspaper.
These are huge, huge plusses for an editor. As is often the case with
prominent, local families, the ownership of this newspaper regularly is
the subject of speculation and second-guessing. This occasionally poses
some coverage challenges, but these are minor problems because the ownership
is honest, classy, and tries to do right by the community.
Q. Spokane is an interesting place. A booming, significant city
that reflects the growth of the inland West, unfortunately known best nationally
for being on the edge of the Aryan Nations (until the success this year
of Gonzaga’s basketball team). How has that driven your coverage priorities?
A. The Aryan Nations and related white supremacists are but one small
part of life in this region. In terms of overall resource allocation, we
assign far more people to schools, local government, neighborhood news
and law and justice than we do to the Aryan Nations. Still, we understand
and take seriously the newspaper’s need to shine a light under the rocks
where the creepy things live. That’s what we’ve done in our coverage of
the white supremacists in our region.
Our coverage of the white supremacists always is done within the context
of knowing that a vast majority of our readers don’t share these beliefs
and are looking for constructive ways to demonstrate their opposition to
them. Last summer we printed and distributed 130,000 cards that said “In
It Together” and invited those who disagreed with the Aryan Nations march
in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, to display the cards in their homes, offices and
cars. We still see these cards all over our region. It’s gratifying.
Q. Your coverage of the Randy Weaver case was a Pulitzer finalist.
In your series “The Ragged Edge,” you gave voice to the ultraright in an
unfiltered way that was revealing and unprecedented. What was your goal,
and did it work?
A. In my view, “The Ragged Edge” project represents some of the best
work the Spokesman-Review has ever done. That project stands as a road
map to how a newspaper could genuinely connect with the disaffected in
American small towns and explore the fragile political territory where
hundreds of people are teetering on the brink of becoming radicals or reactionaries.
This region, and this nation, desperately needed that roadmap if we hoped
to dissuade the next Randy Weaver or Timothy McVeigh. “The Ragged Edge”
was built around the idea of really listening to and trying to understand
people who are on the verge of dropping out of society. We tried to take
away the traditional journalistic filters of saying, “Yeah, but you’re
just a nut,” or “I don’t like your politics so I’m going to slam you.”
“The Ragged Edge” experience greatly increased our knowledge of a wholly
unreported and often unrecognized component of our community. When one
of the people featured in “The Ragged Edge” was arrested two years later
for bombing one of our offices, we already had his mug shot on file!
Q. You’ve also created a newspaper where photography and design
have a very large place at the table. You devote huge chunks of newsprint
to projects and photos often dominate. Your excellent series last year
on Spokane receiving a disproportionate share of the state’s parolees took
something like 30 pages over a week and was more than 50 percent photos.
What’s the governing philosophy there?
A. Photojournalism is one of the core franchises of the Spokesman-Review,
and should be a core franchise at every newspaper. Strong documentary photography
is something our competitors simply cannot do. In Spokane, we have built
a strong photo staff around a pledge to treat photography as an equal partner
to the written word. It is a reason why the newspaper has been a multiple
winner of the National Press Photographers competition.
Q. You’re a leader in both APME (president in 2001) and a committee
chair and active member of ASNE. You have a demanding job, two teen-agers
at home and a charming wife. How do you keep it all in balance?
A. To prosper in the newspaper business today you genuinely have to
love the work. You have to believe in it. You need to recognize the humble
fact that the newspaper habit is really 20 minutes over the breakfast table,
but that those few minutes are truly important to democracy.
You have to think the newspaper matters to your community, and then
you must work hard to make that true. You have to protect and nurture your
creativity amid the rush to deadlines. And you have a responsibility to
nurture creativity in those around you. At the end of the day, you have
to remember that it will all be there waiting for you tomorrow so you’d
better get home for your kid’s baseball game.
