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.

As a former journalist, I have written about journalistic objectivity on several occasions recently, including imparting my notion that journalists should strive for objectivity while, at the same time, not be hesitant to out call lies for what they are – lies.

This time, rather than imparting more about my great thoughts, I choose to cite a couple examples of solid journalism, which, I contend, will help make my point that good journalists can still practice their art in tough times.

FIRST IN THE WASHIINGTON POST, FROM DAN BALZ, ONE OF THE BEST REPORTERS DOING IN THIS COUNTRY/

“From the moment he walked down the golden escalator at Trump Tower on June 16, 2015, Donald Trump has been the man the world could not stop watching.  So he was again Tuesday, a day that epitomized the perverse fascination with the former president and the degree to which he has debased the high office he once held.

“When the former president departed Trump Tower, and before he entered his SUV for the drive to the courthouse, he offered a clenched fist and raised arm to the bank of cameras trained on him.  But there was no broad smile or thumbs-up that he has offered so many other times.  By the time he arrived for his arraignment, he looked very much like the defendant that he now is — perhaps humiliated but plainly defiantand no doubt angry.

“Trump was impeached for much, much more — once for trying to extort the president of Ukraine to dig up dirt on Joe Biden ahead of the 2016 campaign, and then again for his role in inciting the mob that attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.  Impeached but acquitted.  Those were political arenas, with elected officials as prosecutors in a Democratic-controlled House and jurors in a Republican-controlled Senate.

“This is where Trump has brought the country.  His first campaign broke so many norms of politics, and he survived controversies that would have brought down most politicians.  His presidency brought chaos and turmoil, not to mention lies and hate,again a norm-breaking tenure unlike any other in the history of the country.  His post-presidency has been an extension of his presidency.”

COMMENT:  In these excerpts from Balz ‘ piece in the Post, you get the picture.  He strikes a delicate balance between reporting on the Trump indictment from a factual perspective, while, at the same time, describing in detail Trump’s failures. 

That’s good journalism.

SECOND, FROM OTHER WASHINGTON POST WRITERS/

“The split-screen highlighted the two worlds Trump is spanning as he makes a third straight bid for the presidency:  One in which he is a defiant political hero and early polling leader for the 2024 Republican nomination, and another in which he is in increasing legal peril.

“Trump lit into the other ongoing investigations hounding him, especially the probe by the district attorney in Fulton County, Georgia, over Trump’s pressure on officials to overturn the 2020 election results there, and the federal investigation into his handling of classified documents overseen by special counsel Jack Smith.

“The crowd booed at the mention of Bragg and New York Attorney General Letitia James, who has a civil case against Trump’s business.  Many of Trump’s statements about the case were not factually supported. Many of his advisers continue to view the New York case as the weakest one.”

COMMENT:  Again, good journalism.

In particular, I was struck by the inclusion of this phrase – “Many of Trump’s statements about the case were not factually supported.”

Also, the reporting identities the fact that the New York case against Trump may not be the strongest one he faces.

That’s a great way to separate fact from fiction when it comes to Trump.