PERSPECTIVE FROM THE 19^TH HOLE: This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus use an image from my favorite sport, golf. Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all of my professional positions, including as a Congressional press secretary in Washington, D.C., an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and a private sector lobbyist. This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.

All of the to’ing and fro’ing by the White House over Donald Trump’s claim, issued via twitter, that the Obama Administration wiretapped his residence underlined a reality for me based on my 40 years of relating to the media.

It is this: If your responsibility is to deal with the media, work hard to avoid becoming part of what I call “media process” story. The facts of the story should dictate the coverage, not how you deal with or respond to reporters and editors.

Hard to do in the Trump Administration, I suppose, because there is so much disagreement over the facts, or, in some cases, “the alternative facts.” Thus, those who speak for the Administration often end up being part of the story.

Consider Sean Spicer’s conduct over the last few days. Against an intentional set of media questions, he had to stand on his head, perhaps for good reason, as he tried to answer for Trump’s claims that Obama had wiretapped his residence.

Here’s the way the Wall Street Journal put it when describing his answers to probing questions:

“…Mr. Spicer’s remarks on Monday were the first from the press secretary suggesting the president hadn’t meant his allegation as necessarily literal—and therefore wasn’t maintaining that he, and his own phone lines at Trump Tower in Manhattan, were targeted directly by the Obama administration.

“’His tweets do speak for themselves,’” Mr. Spicer said at one point, then noting again that Mr. Trump had placed quotation marks around the words ‘wires tapped’ and ‘wire tapping’ in two of his tweets.”

Spicer danced and, as he did, his conduct became part of the story.

The same with Trump counselor Kellyanne Conway who, in a media interview, tried to contend that it was possible microwave signals from TV had been used to tap Trump.

In both of these cases, you could contend that Spicer and Conway were caught in a web created by their boss – and you would be right. But, their approach to the media also put their own conduct as spokespersons front and center.

Without trying to put myself on any kind of pedestal, in all of my media relations work for a state university, for an Oregon Congressman, for a state agency and for an Oregon governor, I worked hard to avoid giving reporters a chance to focus on my actions as a spokesman. I wanted the facts to dominate the story, not my tactics.

To provide one example, when I served as spokesman for the management side of Oregon state government during each of two state employee strikes, I tried to strike – pardon the play on words — a reasonable posture with reporters and editors.

I didn’t want my conduct to be part of the story. To be sure, I was quoted on management views, but I avoided arguing with reporters and editors. That way the focus would be on issues separating management and union members, not on methods of providing information to the media and answering their questions.

I knew the spokesman on the other side, Bentley Gilbert, who is now retired as I am. He conducted himself with theskill and discipline. We were apart on issues; we were not apart on how we dealt the media. Even when we were interviewed together, which happened on a few occasions, I respected his even-handed, honest approach. And his approach did not spark media coverage of his methods and tactics.

I suspect it will be difficult on a continuing basis for Trump staff like Spicer and Conway to avoid becoming part of the story. For one thing, that appears to be their style. For another, the Trump Administration focuses on generating controversy with the “opposition party,” the media.

For me, though, facts and perspectives ought to prevail, not tactics for dealing with the media.