New Weekly Review page will inform and engage you

Some people read the newspaper every day, front to back. Others read it only on Sundays, and just certain sections at that. You know which you are.

Next Sunday we're introducing a new page designed to appeal to the most avid readers, the most selective readers, and everyone in between. Its name is simple: "Weekly Review." Its content will be fun, informative and engaging. As you might suspect, the page will offer clear, concise, topic-oriented summaries of the most interesting and important stories of the previous week. They will cover the local, regional, national and international fronts, including politics, health, social issues, business, sports and entertainment.

"If you're a regular reader, it will distill each week down to about 12 items — including photos — that defined the news of the week. If you're an infrequent reader, you'll learn what you missed," said Katherine Long, Weekly Review editor.

"In our practice runs of the page, we found some news events that seemed significant at the start of the week lost their importance by Saturday," Long said. "We had a little perspective by week's end, and could make smart judgments about which stories had the most long-term significance to readers in our area."

Long said she will "look for news stories that are likely to affect readers down the road — an important moment in the course of the Iraq war, a city- or county-council decision that has broad implications for the area's future, a trend that might signal changes to the economy or the nation's political makeup. But I'll also look for the offbeat story that everybody's still talking about.

"And a very important part of the page will be the photos, because many stories can best be told through a dramatic image."

Much of the fun will come in a new column, "The Wrap by Ron Judd."

That's right, Ron Judd. The guy who writes the "Trail Mix" column in Thursday's Northwest Weekend section. The guy who covers the Olympic Games for The Seattle Times. The guy who comes at everything from a slightly different tilt.

He said his new column will be "essentially an items column with a double shot of attitude." The items will be "just stuff people are talking about. I'll then turn each into a short item of commentary — usually no more than two or three sentences — putting the news into my own context, that being a Seattle-area native and Times journalist of 18 years.

"My aim is to use humor, irony, satire or plain outrage to place a sort of everyman's stamp on the news. It's the punch line, if you will, to news developments which, in and of themselves, often seem like a joke to the general public."

When the emperor has no clothes, Judd said he'll "feel obligated to barge into the room and point out the obvious, but all-too-often unspoken."

"Sometimes the best way to make that kind of a point is through humor, sometimes simply by reminding readers of the bigger picture. I view 'The Wrap' as a humor column, yes, but one with an edge. I rarely pick a subject purely for entertainment value; there's usually a point lying beneath there somewhere."

Judd said the column is a challenge he really relishes. "Writing humor, I've learned over the past couple decades, is a high-risk endeavor; what's hilarious or poignant to one person will send another into a rage, depending on the degree of affection for the person or institution being skewered."

Judd recalled a discussion with an angry reader of a similarly pointed weekly sports column he wrote some years back. "After asking him why, given the other 20-some pages of news devoted to straight coverage of the sports he held so dear, he couldn't abide 20 inches of reality injected once a week, he shouted: 'But I don't WANT any reality in my sports section!'

"Those who don't want any [reality] in their news section might be similarly turned off. But that's a risk worth taking," Judd said.

Here are what he calls a few "general hopes and promises" intended to make this column distinctive and unique:

"It will always strive to entertain, amuse and / or provoke. It will be politically incorrect. It will pull no punches. It won't be partisan, but absolutely will take aim at people, parties and institutions in positions of power or privilege at any given time. It will never be followed by a quiz. And, most important, no part of it will ever be run past a focus group."

I suspect many politicians, civic leaders and even editors will get a turn wearing the emperor's crown. When mine comes, I hope I'll have the grace and good sense to say, "Thanks, I needed that." Because, chances are I did.

Speaking of me, this column will move to make room for the new page. Weekly Review will be on A3, so you won't have to hunt for it. The Close-up feature will move from A3 to A2. "Inside The Times" will find a home on the inside back page of the A section.

I told the architects of these changes that my loyal readers would search out this column wherever it appears. You know who you are.

Hello? Anybody?

Inside the Times appears in the Sunday Seattle Times. If you have a comment on news coverage, write to Michael R. Fancher, P.O. Box 70, Seattle, WA 98111, call 206-464-3310 or send e-mail to mfancher@seattletimes.com. More columns at www.seattletimes.com/columnists