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 to 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 press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon, as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as 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.

It would not be appropriate to mark the passing of the consummate journalist Jim Lehrer without emphasizing the solid “rules” – call them “advice” — he left behind.

Lehrer, the long-time host of the PBS News Hour, died last week at the age of 85.

As a former journalist – yes, I worked for newspapers back in the day when they were more alive and well than they are today in this social media age – Lehrer’s rules make eminent sense to me. Plus, following them would make for better journalism, which in age of wackos on the right and left has degenerated into name-calling and innuendo.

The Lehrer rules:

• Do nothing I cannot defend.
• Do not distort, lie, slant, or hype.
• Do not falsify facts or make up quotes.
• Cover, write, and present every story with the care I would want if the story were about me.
• Assume there is at least one other side or version to every story.
• Assume the viewer is as smart and caring and good a person as I am.
• Assume the same about all people on whom I report.
• Assume everyone is innocent until proven guilty.
• Assume personal lives are a private matter until a legitimate turn in the story mandates otherwise.
• Carefully separate opinion and analysis from straight news stories and clearly label them as such.
• Do not use anonymous sources or blind quotes except on rare and monumental occasions. No one should ever be allowed to attack another anonymously.
• Do not broadcast profanity or the end result of violence unless it is an integral and necessary part of the story and/or crucial to understanding the story.
• Acknowledge that objectivity may be impossible but fairness never is.
• Journalists who are reckless with facts and reputations should be disciplined by their employers.
• My viewers have a right to know what principles guide my work and the process I use in their practice.
• I am not in the entertainment business.

Just imagine if journalism today were to abide by these solid rules.

For one thing, we would not have to listen to Sean Hannity – and that, alone, would be a godsend.

But, more generally, we would have a better news product, one on which we could rely as every-day Americans who don’t have seats of power or influence that would give us insider information.

So, to honor Lehrer, I wish for a return to the principles he enunciated as unlikely as that may be.