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 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.

When the publisher of a major newspaper writes a “letter from the publisher,” the words often strike me as not much more than pablum.

However, a “letter from the publisher” of the Wall Street Journal, Almar Latour, caught my attention the other day if only for this reason:  Beyond public relations, it advocated for “continuous improvement” in the Journal’s business.

Several Journal readers apparently agreed with me and wrote letters to the editor, which the Journal published under this headline:  “The Journal should be required reading for business people.”

Here are excerpts from the letters:

• When I got to the end of publisher Almar Latour’s “A Report to Our Readers,” I said to myself:  There’s something missing here. Nothing about diversity, equity or inclusion; only 1,200 words on the pursuit of excellence in doing your job.  How refreshing.  Thank you, Mr. Latour. That’s why people love your newspaper.

Doug Wertheimer, Skokie, Illinois

• I endorse Mr. Latour’s observation that “reliable information is the most valuable currency of the epoch.”  But I don’t think the Journal provides that as much as it could.  Though I am a devout liberal, I read the Journal’s opinion section.  Very often I make note of valid points made by your editorials and contributors and, sometimes, my mind is changed.

Often, however, I find assertions of fact made that contrast with my understanding of the facts.  I don’t reject them out of hand, but I am often frustrated by a lack of references.  I suggest that all critical assertions of fact be required to include identification of the source.

Joel Drum, Los Angeles, California

• Why do I read the Journal?  All the answers are in Mr. Latour’s letter. We in California live in a deluge of extreme wokeism.  But there are many of us who are just Californians.  We love our state, the beauty, the climate, without the extremism.  Some of us still live by the old San Francisco approach:  Live and let live.  We adhere to the values of truth and honesty, based on reality.  Thank you for adhering to that in a balanced way.

Joanna Shafer, Oakland, California

• I strongly endorse the comment that The Wall Street Journal should be required reading for business people.  As CEO of Brookline Bancorp, I had copies of the Journal delivered daily to every officer and branch manager. It was my opinion that they couldn’t conduct informed discussions with customers or others without timely access to the Journal. It’s expensive, but it’s a first-rate operation.

Richard Chapman Jr., Brookline, Massachusetts.

• I believe The Wall Street Journal should be required reading for President Biden. Every day.

Jerry Dawson, Hernando, Florida.

Why do I report this? 

A couple reasons.  I, too read the Wall Street Journal, not because it is required, but because it includes excellent writing, especially on politics, a hobby of mine after a career in the business.

Plus, the Journal maintains a perspective just right of center and, when combined with the Washington Post, with its just left of center perspective, you get a full picture of issues when, as I do every morning, you read both newspapers.