PERSPECTIVE FROM THE 19TH 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 (Les AuCoin), 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 could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf. The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie. And it is where you want to be on a golf course.
3.
Or, some of us are rooting for fewer.
And, in fact, Trump will not go away just because he is out of office.
Washington Post media critic Margaret Sullivan wrote about this this morning in a piece that leads with these paragraphs:
“Trump’s administration is down to its last hours, but you can bet that the false belief held by millions of Americans that the election was rigged is not going away when President Trump does.
“Journalists, if they take their core mission seriously, should think hard about how they’re going to confront this Big Lie, as it’s become known.
“Our goal should go beyond merely putting truthful information in front of the public. We should also do our best to make sure it’s widely accepted — “to create a public square with a common set of facts,” as Tom Rosenstiel, an author and the executive director of the Virginia-based American Press Institute, put it.”
As a former journalist, I liked what Sullivan added about what the reporters and editors to get beyond the Trump lies. In a few more days – three to be exact – Sullivan’s details will be a subject of one of my new blogs.
For now, here is just her list of steps to take:
- Stop relying on shorthand.
- Use an honesty litmus test.
- Learn the science about how people absorb truthful information.
May the next three days go quickly
Perspective from the 19th Hole 