New Columnist Writes What All Know, But Nobody Says

Punching holes in conventional wisdom sounds like a pretty good job for a journalist. We just assigned it to Joni Balter.

She'll be writing a column every Sunday and Thursday for the Local section of The Times, exploring issues and people throughout the Puget Sound region. She calls her task "writing what everybody knows, but nobody says."

Dave Boardman, Times metro editor, said the column will take advantage of Joni's extensive network of contacts in business, government and the community. She understands how those areas are connected, he said, and she has "the ability to cut through rhetoric."

Boardman also said he chose Balter for the column because she has incredible energy and is a tough-minded reporter. Her toughness is more than just dogged pursuit of stories, he said; it's also the willingness to challenge popular and comfortable positions.

The column will give her the license to write with a clear point of view, but reporting - not just opinion - will be its foundation. "It will be hard to pin any labels on Joni, especially liberal or conservative," Boardman said.

I'm not sure what label could fit a writer whose "rants" range from guns to political correctness, both of which she says are out of control. You'll draw your own conclusions by reading the column.

Balter was born and raised in Pittsburgh. She came to Seattle in 1973 to finish college at the UW. She explains the move saying, "My sister lived here and I used to do everything my sister did. Then she moved to L.A. and that ended."

Her academic major was a combination of political science and environmental studies and she started as an environmental reporter for the student newspaper The Daily at the UW.

Her first professional job was at KZAM Radio as a news and public-affairs reporter, which lasted four years until the station sold. Then it was on to stints at KOMO Radio, the Post-Intelligencer, KCTS Channel 9 and United Press International.

She joined The Times in 1984, and her beats have included the Goodwill Games, city hall and demographic changes. She even filled in as an editorial writer for nine months last year.

(I count Balter among those who can take credit for the Mariners still being in Seattle. While community leaders were all smiles and arm in arm with former M's owner Jeff Smulyan, Balter was unearthing a host of stories about his financial plight and the likelihood that his only salvation would be to move the team. Her stories prompted the power crowd to rethink the situation, and the rest is history.)

Part of Balter's own history is being married to Timothy Egan, Northwest correspondent for The New York Times. They live near Seward Park and have two children, Sophie, 6, and Casey, 3.

It might tell you something that Sophie is named after Balter's great aunt, Sophie Irene Loeb, who was a reporter for the New York Evening World and sort of a family legend.

She wrote a lot about slums and congested areas in New York's lower East end. She also served on a 1913 commission for the relief of widowed mothers and pushed for legislation for penny school lunches, educational facilities for immigrants, better housing, improved sanitation and elimination of fire hazards. Later, she served on the board of child welfare in New York City.

Asked to describe her reporting style, Balter answered, "Probably overly aggressive, but let's just say aggressive. How about that?"

As for people she has interviewed - "I've been told to calm down - a lot."

But Joni's qualities as a columnist won't just be in-your-face grit. She'll spend time with people to understand sides of stories that aren't readily apparent or easy to tell. She'll uncover subtleties and insights that sometimes don't qualify as "news." She'll write of people you know about, but bring you sides of them you haven't seen before - what they're really like.

Being a working mom is part of the perspective she brings to the column, so watch for topics related to parenting, work and schools. She's also a runner and is a "sports-crazed" fan of the Mariners and Huskies, so anything's possible.

Today's column appears on page B 1.

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