Page 4A
East Oregonian
Saturday, July 21, 2018
CHRISTOPHER RUSH
Publisher
KATHRYN B. BROWN
Owner
DANIEL WATTENBURGER
Managing Editor
TIM TRAINOR
Opinion Page Editor
Founded October 16, 1875
OUR VIEW
Journalists keep
doing their jobs
Trump isn’t the first to whip
the press for performing
its proper function
T
he press is not the enemy,
despite what President Donald
Trump has said numerous
times. His relentless campaign against
independent journalism is a self-serving
strategy meant to shield himself from
accountability.
In fact, it is the news media’s
responsibility to make life
uncomfortable for people in power —
to be a watchdog on potential abuses
of that power. It’s no surprise that
the politically powerful have long
responded by accusing the press of
being inaccurate, unfair or unpatriotic.
Vice President Spiro Agnew in 1970
famously referred to the news media
as “nattering nabobs of negativism.”
Two years later, President Richard
Nixon said in a taped White House
conversation “the press is the enemy,”
a phrase Trump adopted early in his
presidency.
According to the John F. Kennedy
Presidential Library and Museum,
even President George Washington
“expressed dismay that his farewell
address might not receive adequate
press coverage.”
As for Washington’s predecessors,
the colonial governors had allowed no
freedom of the press.
Criticizing the British monarchy
was a crime. That is why the press
was included among the five freedoms
inscribed by our Founders in the First
Amendment.
And so, as the nation gets back
to business after Independence Day
celebrations and vacations, it’s worth
reflecting on the role of the press in our
country and our community.
It would be extreme to somehow
blame Trump’s exhortations against the
media for the mass shooting late last
month at a newspaper in Annapolis,
Maryland.
As is often the case in workplace
violence, this apparently was the work
of a deranged man carrying a grudge.
Something sent him over the edge.
His long-festering complaint had been
that the newspaper had written —
accurately, according to the courts —
about his legal troubles for harassing
and threatening a woman.
It is deeply unsettling that, along
with a great outpouring of community
support, the Capital Gazette has now
received additional death threats and
communications celebrating the slaying
of its five newspaper employees. The
murders have caused newspapers and
television and online news rooms
around the country to reassess security
measures. Yet even in this environment,
even amid the tragedy of losing
colleagues in a senseless shooting, we
all keep doing our jobs.
Associated Press
As a candidate last year, Donald Trump lashes out at an Associated Press
photographer who took a photo of empty chairs at a rally. Trump has continued to
bash the press — and First Amendment freedoms — since taking office.
Because that’s what journalists do.
Journalism is a calling. It’s
telling stories about crops and
canneries, community festivals and
classroom projects, and all sorts of
groundbreakings and fresh starts, both
in construction and in life. It’s about
crime and punishment, probing the
deep underbelly of society and alerting
the public not only to what went wrong
but also revealing when things go
right. It’s about going alongside first
responders into the winds and wildfires
when others are fleeing.
On the opinion pages, it’s
cheerleading at times and challenging
the community at other times. And, yes,
holding the powerful accountable.
It’s about seeking truth as best we
can and sometimes making mistakes —
we’re human and fallible despite our
best efforts every day — but promptly
correcting our factual errors. And it’s
about always giving readers the last
word through letters to the editor, as we
have for generations.
People can and will disagree.
But that should not make any of us
enemies. This is our community and
our country — all of ours.
OTHER VIEWS
The localist revolution
W
OTHER VIEWS
O’Rourke shared traits
with his beloved Pendleton
L
arry O’Rourke and
Pendleton’s economy. Pilot
Pendleton had a long
Rock rancher Tom Rugg
partnership.
got to know Larry as both
Larry, who died recently
built their own airplanes,
at 82, had lots of company
and Rugg said Larry loved
because many people are
people.
sold on Pendleton. But
Support education.
Larry’s quick wit, puckish
Those close to him say he
Mike
sense of humor and
was an excellent teacher
Forrester
persistence made him stand
both in the classroom and
Comment
out. He will be missed in
in the cockpit with student
this community.
aviators. He was interested
My guess is that Larry and
in his students in the classroom
his community shared several
and later. He would come across
personality traits.
something new to him — an idea,
A drive to achieve. Pendleton
a product, a discovery — and be
history is full of examples of
inclined to study it to death
individuals and organizations
Teamwork. Even though Larry
making their marks in this region
did lots of work for his town, you
and far beyond. Larry and his wife might not know of it because of
Dorothy were always among the
his style. He believed deeply in
first in town to volunteer to build a cooperation with others and did
support group. If city government
not seek to be in the news. At the
voiced a need or a family ran into
same time, Larry O’Rourke was
bad luck, the O’Rourkes would
honest, frank, to the point. Quite a
respond.
combination of qualities.
Being a people person. Seems
Go for it. Whether it’s putting
those who find satisfaction in
together the best rodeo in the West
Pendleton are those who reach
or organizing to help a displaced
out to others. When Larry saw
family, you will go as far as
someone struggling to solve
teamwork, drive and planning take
something, he would often sign up you. A commitment is needed to
to help — whether it was putting
have a chance for success.
a historical center on the Umatilla
■
Indian Reservation or student
Mike Forrester of Pendle-
ton is former editor of the East
exchange programs in Pendleton
Oregonian.
or coming up with ideas to help
Unsigned editorials are the opinion of the
East Oregonian editorial board. Other
columns, letters and cartoons on this page
express the opinions of the authors and
not necessarily that of the East Oregonian.
e’ve tried liberalism and
to data. The local person sees things that can
conservatism, and now we’re
be reduced to data but also things that cannot.
trying populism. Maybe the
The second difference is relational.
next era of public life will be defined by a
Federal power is impersonal, uniform,
resurgence of localism.
abstract and rule-oriented. Local power is
personalistic, relational, affectionate, irregular
Localism is the belief that power should
and based on a shared history of reciprocity
be wielded as much as possible at the
and trust. A national system rewards
neighborhood, city and state levels. Localism
David
rational intelligence. A local system requires
is thriving — as a philosophy and a way
Brooks emotional intelligence, too.
of doing things — because the national
Comment
▪ Change happens differently. Federal
government is dysfunctional while many
change often means big shifts quickly, such
towns are reviving. Politicians in Washington
as when a big law is passed after a long debate, like
are miserable, hurling ideological abstractions at
Obamacare or tax reform. Local change happens
one another, but mayors and governors are fulfilled,
more gradually, more iteratively. There’s a legacy
producing tangible results.
system, like a public school, a grocery store or
Localism is also thriving these days because
an investment fund. Somebody breaks free from
many cities have more coherent identities than
the system and creates an innovative alternative,
the nation as a whole. It is thriving because while
like a charter school, an organic farm market or
national politics takes place through the filter of the
a crowdsource campaign. As Leo Linbeck of the
media circus, local politics by and large does not. It
is thriving because we’re in an era of low social trust. Center for Opportunity Urbanism describes, the new
innovators “announce the availability of the upgrade
People really have faith only in the relationships
and then allow users to choose when to make the
right around them, the change agents who are right
switch.” There’s a conversation between the legacy
on the ground.
system and the innovator, as the former learns
Since it will probably be the coming wave, I
from and adapts to the alternative. Change happens
thought it might be useful to make a few notes:
through the conversation between old and new.
▪ Localism is truly a revolution. It literally means
▪ There is a different division of labor for making
flipping the power structure. For the past several
decades, money, talent and power have flowed to the change. As impact investor Deborah Frieze put it in a
2015 TEDx talk, change is led by Walk Outs. These
centers of national power. Politicians tried to ascend
are people who leave the legacy system and pioneer
to national office as they advanced their careers.
new alternatives. Then there are Illuminators. These
Smart young people flocked to universities, and
are people who analyze and bring attention to the
then to New York and D.C. The federal government
assumed greater and greater control of American life. change that is now available.
I’d highlight two other social roles. Elders are
But under localism, the crucial power center is
the city mothers and fathers who hold sway in the
at the tip of the shovel, where the actual work is
town because of their established positions. The
being done. Expertise is not in the think tanks but
Elders support the Walk Outs, make room for them
among those who have local knowledge, those with
and reform old systems. Then there are Network
a feel for how things work in a specific place and
Entrepreneurs. They link the Walk Outs, who tend to
an awareness of who gets stuff done. Success is
be lonely, overworked and short-staffed. They help
not measured by how big you can scale but by how
the Walk Outs build a support system and a way to
deeply you can connect.
exchange knowledge and care.
Under localism, national politicians are regarded
Change in a localist world often looks like
like generals in Tolstoy novels. They move pieces
around the board, but the actual battle is nothing like a renewal of old forms, which were often more
intimate and personalistic than the technocratic
what they imagine. Wise young people leave the
structures of the past 50 years. Localism stands
centers for towns where they can make a difference.
for the idea that there is no one set of solutions
▪ Localism is not federal power wielded on a
to diverse national problems. Instead, it brings
smaller scale. It’s a different kind of power. The
conservatives and liberals together around the
first difference is epistemological. The federal
thought that people are happiest when their lives
policymaker asks, “What can we do about
are enmeshed in caring face-to-face relationships,
homelessness?” The local person asks Fred or Mary
building their communities together.
what they need in order to have a home. These
■
different questions yield different results.
David Brooks, New York Times
The federal person sees things that can be reduced
The East Oregonian welcomes original letters of 400 words or less on public issues and public policies for publication in the
newspaper and on our website. The newspaper reserves the right to withhold letters that address concerns about individual
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Send letters to managing editor Daniel Wattenburger, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801 or email editor@eastoregonian.com.