It has now been two years since I launched Speak Up for Good Government, so I took a few minutes to look back at my first newsletter and am very pleased to see that I have remained true to the vision and principles that I initially articulated.
I have refined the principles, established a web presence, connected with and promoted a number of good government organizations, and forged some very special relationships.
I was very pleased to learn that one of my initial assumptions "that a majority of Americans believe in the spirit of collaboration, respect, and problem solving necessary to make our government work for we the people" is supported by a number of polls and studies. I am further encouraged by the work of Voice of the People and the Maryland Program for Public consultation, which has found 185 policy positions on a wide range of issues that are supported by majorities of Republicans & Democrats.
I hope everyone will check out this powerful newsletter from Chris Quinn, the editor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, which highlighted the works of groups promoting civil discourse. I became a Braver Angels member after reading, and I plan to explore their work further in the coming months.
On March 8, the rescheduled webinar, "Fact-Checking Journalism and Fact-Checking to Improve Information Quality" was presented by PolitiFact Editor-in-Chief Angie Drobnic-Holan. I hope many of you were able to attend.
Some key takeaways from the webinar:
One of the foundations of democracy is people from opposing views coming together and deliberating/discussing information.
Challenge is when people have different sets of information
Journalism ideally supports democracy by giving voters information to support their decision making
If something evokes strong emotions, that's a clue that it should be fact-checked before sharing
For more information and tips on fact-checking, check out this publication that I posted last May.
Additional news and info:
Have a great month!
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