Images of Denmark and Norway

Choosing Truth

Choosing Truth

By Jeffrey Bowen

There were no warning labels

On the life I chose to make,

But I knew I’d never find the truth

Unless I made mistakes.

And truth is something better

Than unreasoned certainty.

I believe the truth remains that way

No matter what you think you see.

Science doesn’t always prove a theory,

But at least it goes beyond some claims.

I’d rather learn what’s really real

Than find some fool who I can blame.

So my life will always stay with reasons.

It’s a choice I had to make.

At night I sleep much better

Knowing knowledge isn’t fake.

I am searching for a better world,

With room for joy and wonder,

But meaning lies in simple truth,

Without it we soon blunder

Into making bad decisions

And selling false realities.

I’d sooner hear the honest truth,

That’s who I chose to be.

We have to have the will to doubt

Amid the consequences.

After all we’re human,

And sometimes lose our senses.

But always rise above mistakes.

Learn more than what we’ve lost.

Truth belongs with certainty,

It’s always worth the cost. 

Public Officials Should Embrace Press Relations

Public Officials Should Embrace Press Relations

By Jeffrey M. Bowen

There are good reasons why we sometimes describe the press as the fourth estate. Its influence has been compared historically to powerful forces of governance at work in both the French and American revolutions.  In fact, one of the earliest histories of our revolutionary war, written in 1789, declares that “the pen and the press had a merit equal to the sword” in establishing our independence.   Tempering the three checks and balances that reside in our executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government, a fourth factor derives from the press or media.   

Over the last few months, new terms have entered the lexicon of the fourth estate.  Two such terms are alternative facts and fake news.  Credit for these words belongs to President Donald Trump and his staff who use this vocabulary to try to convince the public that the media are lying or inventing news to discredit the President’s initiatives.   Presidential claims are baldly asserted by tweets, or more recently by selective denial of invitations to the press secretary’s briefings.

Trying to make the media a scapegoat is like spitting into the winds of more than 200 years of American history.  By today’s standards, colonial connections between the press and politicians are shocking.      

According to historian Eric Burns in his book Infamous Scribblers, political leaders funded and launched newspapers to make sure their messages were publicized.  Shadowy politicians subsidized the editors’ income when it fell short.  Publishers of friendly papers got jobs as postmasters or as favored printers of all kinds of government documents and related advertising. Many publications brimmed with bias, venom, exaggeration and outright lies (aka fake news).  Often the authors’ imaginary pen names gave their rhetoric free rein.   Libelous claims were rampant with no threat of being sued for slander.   

The editors of colonial news rarely backed down and seldom retracted their statements.  Their extreme and often unreliable opinions were expected by politicians who saw this as kindling for their own literary fires. The press was thought simply to be doing its job. 

It should be no surprise that the First Amendment to the Constitution guarantees a free press and is intended to prevent government from tampering with the distribution of information and opinions.  Also, recently as the 1960s, the Supreme Court reinforced press freedom to pillory politicians with little fear of prosecution for libel or slander.    In short, the legally protected and lucrative momentum of American journalism works against suppression.

 As a former school district leader and workshop presenter and spokesperson for school boards statewide, I practiced and preached the following relevant guidance:   

First, look at any press initiative as a positive opportunity.  Second, build ongoing and open two-way communication with all media outlets.  Do not play favorites or target villains.  Evenhanded treatment can become an effective reciprocal relationship if trust is nurtured.  Third, stick with verifiable information from reasonably reliable sources.  Fourth, don’t overexplain; answer only what is asked.  Fourth, never say “no comment”.  Admit when you don’t know something, and promise as best you can to follow-up with verification.    

Public officials should avoid acting defensively by insisting that fake news is being published, or by trying to punish or bully the media.  After all, where public communication is concerned, the press holds nearly all the cards.  Those cards are rooted in our history and the public’s inclination to believe what is published must be true.  As Thomas Jefferson famously observed, “…Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate for a moment to prefer the latter.”    

  Upsides of the New Presidency

By Jeffrey M. Bowen

Whether you agree or disagree with President Trump’s policies and pronouncements, when individual issues are filtered out and we compare the status quo with what we felt and thought about national politics just a year or two ago, a surprising number of upsides emerges.  Our observations and reactions have changed significantly, and often positively.  In some instances, realizing this has come from quiet reflection, but in other instances the results have been hashed out at the breakfast table or after watching the evening news.  The terms right or wrong are far less relevant than how much we have learned.  Here is a checklist that could start your own discussion.  

ü  Never before have we so vigorously and continuously discussed national politics while pondering future policies and practices. 

ü  We understand a lot more about the electoral process and how elections are won and lost.

ü  We understand more about constitutional and legal issues as well as litigation and court precedents.

ü  We have learned a great deal about the underlying social, economic, and political currents that have brought us to this juncture.

ü  All this has helped us focus more clearly on our country’s values and priorities -- and our own.  No longer do we take so many of our blessings or curses for granted.

ü  We are much more aware of the strategies and challenges of public communication and how these either thwart or promote political advocacy

ü  We have gained a greater appreciation of what the rest of the world thinks of us and why.

ü  We have learned a frustrating lesson about the disingenuousness of public officials and their willingness to put political party allegiance ahead of personal integrity, individual character, public accountability, and the great benefits of collaboration.

ü  We have discovered that our disadvantaged populations depend to a much greater extent than we ever realized on government programs and money to help them survive, and, by the same token, how that dependence may  either encourage or undermine individual initiative and self-responsibility.

ü  We have been amazed at the extent to which people stubbornly ignore or invent facts and numbers to rationalize their biases.

ü  We have seen anew the risks, rewards, or liabilities of a leadership style that runs quite contrary to advice usually given by gurus of organizational development.

ü  We have rediscovered the vital importance of forgiveness, compassion, and kindness with regard to our own citizenry as well as those who are suffering from stress or violence elsewhere in the world. 

Neufrage Light on Prince Edward Island