But Howell came to the supplemental news service with a vision of covering Washington and national news in a new way - scrapping many of the traditional beats in favor of issues-based beats like gender, age, race, ethics and morality, and children and family.

In fact, a sign posted in the bureau for more than a year read: Be Where The Others Ain't. And the sign now adorning Howell's computer is a take-off of no-smoking signs. But the red slash shows her antipathy to "mildly interesting stories."

"If I can't do something different, I don't want to do it," Howell said.

Newhouse covers very few of the same stories that other major news bureaus put out: the emphasis is on enterprise and original thinking.

Recently, gender reporter Delia Rios traveled with freelance photographer Stephanie Welsh to Nairobi, Kenya, to write about the child prostitution industry that is flourishing there.

The news service has also done a number of special projects - on the high pay of CEOs, killer dads, violence against women, breast cancer, genital mutilation in Africa, prison escapes, the care of elders with dementia, drug raids gone awry, and a series of government and private initiatives around the country that really work.

And, even when Newhouse sent a reporter to cover the Persian Gulf War, the emphasis on trends and originality remained: The stories Newhouse filed from the Middle East centered on the character of the military rather than the battlefield.

"We do take a bite out of breaking stories," Howell said. "In the Oklahoma City story, we were the only Washington bureau that pointed to right-wing extremists from the outset."

The bureau followed that story with reaction among U.S. Muslims to the immediate response by many people that the bombing was carried out by Muslim fundamentalists.

"I pick issues that I think people lay in bed and worry about at night - issues that would interest readers," Howell said.

Q. When you became bureau chief, why did you decide to change Newhouse News Service from its more traditional approach to Washington news coverage to your emphasis on enterprise and issues-based beats?

A. I had two reasons. One was visiting with Newhouse newspaper editors and having them tell me they didn't want what they could get from half a dozen other wire services. The second was my own instinct. I thought I'd be better off doing something no other Washington bureau was doing. And I'd started issues-based beat coverage in the late 1970s in Minneapolis and St. Paul so this was something I knew could work.

Q. Explain your idea or philosophy of what a Washington bureau is, how it should operate, what it should cover.

A. I chose issue beats that I felt were the most important national issues in the country - the ones where I thought we could have impact, the issues that people lay in bed and worry about at night, the issues that would interest readers. That's how I came up with family and children; race; violence; religion, ethics and morality. And I've made changes since I created those beats. I have some beats now that I didn't used to have: The doing-good beat is new. But I had a doing-good beat in St. Paul.

We have one reporter who doesn't have as defined a beat: He covers American life and culture. Our other beats are work; gender and sexuality; national security; and national politics and entitlements.

I had an aging beat, but that reporter left and I decided not to continue it. A lot of others are covering the issue now, and it's the focus of Maturity News Service.

I will be creating a new beat next year. I also hired a humorist who was on staff for quite a while and still is under contract to write for us. I felt that I was throwing all this heavy stuff at people so I should give them something to make them laugh. ... I believe a Washington bureau, or a newspaper for that matter, needs to either be of service or give people a good read or a good laugh.

Q. But isn't there a need for coverage of the daily events in Washington, what's going on in Congress?

A. There's tons of people who do that and do it very well. I don't think it's my job to duplicate it. We still do national political stories: We have a good national political writer in Miles Benson. And I get lots of good national and regional political reporting from the Newhouse papers. The papers have their own reporters in the bureau, and we pick up their stories all the time. We have stories every week from our regional reporters on the wire.

Q. It's not always easy to change the way a newsroom operates. How did you effect the changes you wanted and how did you work with the staff to get them to buy into your plans?

A. I hired a bunch of new people from newspapers outside of Washington and there were several good reporters I inherited. I wanted the non-Washington perspective. And even though many of them now have been here for several years, they spend so much time with sources in places that aren't Washington, (losing the "outside" perspective) is not a problem. If it becomes a problem, well, that's why we have editors. I'm really very high on the staff and trust them a lot.

Q. What other changes did you make when you arrived at Newhouse?

A. One thing that I did was start a photo and graphics service. It was intended to accomplish two things. The primary thing was to illustrate our work. But I told photo editor Toren Beasley that if he found good work to put on the wire, we would publish it. So we have put out a number of packages that originated with photos. We did the breast cancer project that was a Pulitzer finalist and, of course, there was our Pulitzer winner on genital mutilation. We've also published some wonderful photo projects from our papers.

Q. One of your major undertakings involved the Newhouse purchase of Religion News Service, in which you played a leading role. What made you think RNS would be a good fit or good purchase?

A. I think religion, ethics and morality are major-league undercovered in American journalism. I thought there ought to be an international wire service that can be unbiased and nonsectarian. In fact, one of the first beats I looked for when I got to Newhouse was religion, ethics and morality. And Washington's a perfect place because you can look at the ethical side of power. As far as RNS is concerned, I think it can help papers do a better job of covering these issues - it's really unique. My goal is to keep it improving journalistically and financially - to grow it as a business and a news service.

Q. As a Washington bureau chief, you have a lot of different newspapers to serve. Is it difficult to satisfy them?

A. I know all the Newhouse editors well and respect them. I don't have that many disagreements. If I have some questions, I'll query them. I haven't had that much difficulty. I get story ideas from the papers, suggestions, sometimes complaints. But I really haven't gotten that many complaints. I feel blessed by working with a great group of editors. I'm in constant contact with them either on the phone or e-mail, and I send out a weekly newsletter letting them know what I'm doing.

Q. So what's in store for the future?

A. I really just want to do some more good journalism. We want to come up with plans for the year 2000 for what Newhouse News Service should be, what new beats we want to cover, what new photo and graphic projects we want to tackle. We've often spent a year looking at a particular topic on a beat - for instance, prisons on the violence beat. Not every story was about that, but it was a major focus of the beat for a year. I'm not through dreaming dreams.

Q. What about you, your future?

A. I like what I'm doing. I love the family I'm working for. I'd be happy to stay doing this for the rest of my journalism life. I'm not looking for a new job. I'm looking to do more good journalism.

Shearer is co-director and editor of Medill News Service in Washington.