Perspective from the 19^th Hole 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.

There has been a lot of talk these days about what should characterize solid journalism in an age when people who disagree with each other don’t know how “to disagree agreeably.”

That was a phrase that marked much of my tenure as a lobbyist and government official in Oregon over about 40 years.

And, as a reflect on those 40 years, they also began with a stint in journalism as I worked for a daily newspaper in Oregon.  There, I covered local government, including the city council and the county commission, then added oversight for the port in the region.

In all those positions, I reported on local officials who didn’t always agree, but also didn’t appear to hate each other when push came to shove.

Those in government in Oregon – perhaps even in Washington, D.C. — knew more then than they know now about how to disagree in government hearing rooms but agree at the end of the day that the opponent was not an enemy.

Give Donald Trump lots of credit – or, rather, debit — for dissolving the potential to reach collegial government, especially in D.C., though many states mimic his overbearing style. 

In Oregon, it’s less about Trump than about Democrats who have been in charge for so many years that Republicans worry that they hardly matter anymore.  Democrats, in response, often say they will talk with Republicans.

For my part, I have thought a bit about how I would function as a reporter today.  So it was that, as I read the Washington Post – one of the best newspapers going in these days of social media – I was drawn to a summary of the Post’s mission statement.

It is worth reading – here it is:

“The mission of The Washington Post is defined in a set of principles written by Eugene Meyer, who bought the newspaper in 1933.  Today, they are displayed in brass linotype letters in an entrance to the newsroom.  (His gender references have been supplanted by our policy of inclusion, but the values remain.)

“The Seven Principles for the Conduct of a Newspaper:

• The first mission of a newspaper is to tell the truth as nearly as the truth may be ascertained.
• The newspaper shall tell ALL the truth so far as it can learn it, concerning the important affairs of America and the world.
• As a disseminator of the news, the paper shall observe the decencies that are obligatory upon a private gentleman.
• What it prints shall be fit reading for the young as well as for the old.
• The newspaper’s duty is to its readers and to the public at large, and not to the private interests of its owners.  [And, in this case, the owner is Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos.]
• In the pursuit of truth, the newspaper shall be prepared to make sacrifices of its material fortunes, if such course be necessary for the public good.
• The newspaper shall not be the ally of any special interest but shall be fair and free and wholesome in its outlook on public affairs and public officials.”

Those are worthy principles for all of us to follow, not just in journalism, but as we apply the basic principles to life in general.

So, kudos to the Post for enunciating its credo.