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.

I ask the question in the headline as all of us contend with incredible volleys of news – or sometimes what passes for “news” — during the coronavirus pandemic.

One of the steps I have taken as to try to limit my consumption of news to the early morning hours.

Perhaps that relates to the fact that I am a former newspaper reporter and, thus, remember the days when the daily edition arrived in the morning. You could catch up the previous day’s news at one time.

Now, there is no longer what journalists would call a “news cycle.” There is news almost literally every minute, if not every second.

It comes from a number of TV cable outlets, as well as the major networks. And, it even comes from quality newspapers such as the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, the New York Times, the Oregonian and others around the country, which send news to your e-mail or phones all the time.

So does Oregon Public Broadcasting, one of the highest quality news purveyors in Oregon.

With all of this, especially during the virus, it is possible to drown in the product.

For me, Stephen Smith, former editor of National Journal and U.S. News and World Report and executive editor of Newsweek, made several good suggestions in a piece he wrote for the Wall Street Journal this morning. His focus was on TV, not print, but still, a few excerpts are worth including here:

“Have you watched network news lately? I had stopped more than 20 years ago. I was drawn away by the speed and heat of cable news. So were millions more, judging by the sharp audience declines at ABC, CBS and NBC.

“Then earlier this month, I caught part of a network newscast after hearing my sister was about to appear in a segment. I found myself oddly soothed, for reasons I didn’t quite understand.

“Watching network newscasts the next evening was a revelation. They reported all the important stories, no matter how gloomy. Politics played a minor role. President Trump didn’t even appear on one program. He made a cameo on another and got a little more airtime on the third. His eagerness to get people working again was tempered by health-care professionals worried about another coronavirus surge if lockdowns end too soon.

“Most of the newscasts took place at ground level. Children talking about a dead parent. A husband and wife dying in the same hospital two floors apart. Interviews with farmers leaving tomatoes to rot in the field because demand had dropped so much with the closing of restaurants, hotels and schools.

“Sprinkled amid the hardship were uplifting stories from the frontlines—doctors and nurses caring for the ill, truckers driving extra hours to bring vital supplies, an actor picking up the grocery-store tabs for seniors in Georgia and Louisiana.”

Smith adds that one of the most striking aspects for him as he watched network news was how little time reporters and even anchors spent on the screen.

“They put ordinary Americans on the air. Washington and Manhattan weren’t at center stage. The whole country was —Kentucky to Massachusetts, Michigan to Florida, Texas to Pennsylvania. It created a sense of unity, showing a series of communities struggling to survive these strange times.”

Too often, I add, especially in TV news, those involved become the story rather than reporting the story.

Smith ends with this:

“…in a mere 22 minutes, what networks offer is a snapshot of America — dare I say, the real America. The one in which an anchor opened a broadcast by saying: ‘We have made it through another week together.’”

I end with this. To cope with the deluge of news, especially now, limit your consumption to those outlets that emphasize quality, not quantity. Also, view a range of outlets so you don’t risk just getting one bias.