June 26, 2011 in Opinion

Doug Floyd: So long, and foster democracy

Doug Floyd The Spokesman-Review

The sedan ahead of me was barreling along the byways outside of Kansas City, and I was glued to its bumper.

The Washington state trooper at the wheel was hustling Gov. Dan Evans to his next speaking engagement and wasn’t worrying that traffic or red lights might throw me off his trail.

That was his job, but I had one to do, too. As the political writer for the Spokane Chronicle, I and my Spokesman-Review counterpart, Rob Harper, were in Kansas City for the 1976 Republican National Convention. The idea was to keep an eye on our state’s delegates and dignitaries throughout the week, and it so happened that Evans, completing the last of his three terms as governor, was under consideration to be President Ford’s running mate.

Harper kept a white-knuckled grip on the armrest as I matched the trooper’s every swerving lane change. Before I knew it, we were on the Blue Springs, Mo., off-ramp – with an abrupt stop at the bottom of it.

As the tires screeched, we had scant seconds to imagine how our own papers (not to mention the nation’s) would play the story about the two Spokane reporters who rear-ended a potential vice presidential candidate.

Happily, my flirtation with headline-making history 35 years ago in Kansas City went unfulfilled. Missed him by that much.

Unhappily, so did Evans’ shot at the GOP ticket. Sen. Bob Dole got the vice presidential call in a year when it was a tense convention issue.

There’s no particular point to this story, but it’s my last chance to tell it. On Thursday afternoon, after 42 years of newspapering for the Chronicle and The Spokesman- Review, I’m off to sample the pastures of retirement.

Never one to recognize a good chance to shut up, I’m tempted here to retrace every miraculous technological twist along the road from hot-metal type to Twitter. I heard something like that once from my father, except it was about horse-drawn buggies and jet airliners. Every generation marvels at its own journey, I guess. ’Nuff said.

The change that I find most striking, and scary, is not the technological advancement of the past four decades but the way it’s being used to poison the public conversation that sustains democracy.

Didn’t politicians ever squabble back in Dan Evans’ day? Sure. I remember Evans scorching a Democratic Legislature he thought was dragging its feet on important education programs. Fierce battles are part of politics, but they once were tempered by a pragmatism that fixed boundaries around debate. In that era, they understood the need to cooperate at some point in the interest of the public. They recognized that ideological differences did not rule out honorable motives.

“Moderate,” “mainstream” and “compromise” hadn’t yet become dirty words.

But they didn’t operate against a backdrop of blogs and cable news channels that cater to extreme views. They weren’t competing to reach a rigid audience whose every fringe conspiracy theory could be backed up at the click of a remote, or a mouse, by a dozen authoritative-looking mountebanks.

I’ve long believed that the role of a free press is to give readers the information they need to be effective citizens in pursuit of what Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer calls active liberty. That hasn’t changed, even if tomorrow’s newspaper looks more like an iPad.

While I’m anxious about cultural trends, I’m not in full-blown despair.

As my own career coasts down the off-ramp, I peer into the rearview mirror and see an organization of smart, dedicated and tech-savvy journalists who are figuring out the new medium, whatever its contours become. Just as important, these bright minds are still committed to journalism’s fundamental value – supplying the glue that keeps democracy intact.

I’ll be following them.

Doug Floyd is the editorial page editor for The Spokesman-Review. He can be reached at (509) 459-5466 or dougf@spokesman.com – until Thursday afternoon.

10 comments on this story so far. Add yours!

Justsayin' on June 26 at 7:35 a.m.
Doug, it’s been fun… Enjoy your retirement.
I’m enjoying mine.
Gary Garrison NW Timberworkers Resource Council
gmorton on June 26 at 9:28 a.m.
Enjoy yourself, Doug!
Jeffrey_Grey on June 26 at 11:26 a.m.
Doug,
If we get you a virtual black and white stripped shirt and a whistle, would you consider becoming a referee around here?
richard on June 26 at 11:27 a.m.
Long distinguished career; I recall Doug writing for the Chronicle.
Enjoy; will you be writing a book? I am sure you have many interesting stories to tell about the paper, Spokane, and the changes over the years.
zelda on June 26 at 1:41 p.m.
So long, Doug. It’s been good to virtually know you. Thanks for keeping a steady hand on the tiller in a tumultuous time.
dkbarbieri on June 26 at 4:27 p.m.
Doug
The decades of working with you have taught me a lot. Your deep respect and genuine affection for the Inland Northwest and it’s quality of life challenge us all to do the same. Your deep understanding that issues like health care, education, justice, individual rights will be tested if the press doesn’t stand up for them on the editorial page and constantly try to get to the truth. Your untiring willingness to entertain opinion that isn’t always popular or purely representative of a current voter trend. Your warm smile that put people at ease in what can be an intimidating Editorial Board interview. I know the current publisher and respect that he as did his father have reserved the veto right on some Editorial Page decisions but your steady advocacy for what is right has generally allowed “your” page to be known as a place for peaceful, just and caring advocacy. I deeply respect you for this. Tough shoes to fill…please don’t go too far to the sidelines my friend.
Don
greenlibertarian on June 26 at 9:08 p.m.
Good luck, Doug. Thanks for putting up with me.
brentandrews on June 29 at 7:24 a.m.
The S-R opinion pages have always been worth the price of the paper. Good job, Doug Floyd; good luck and Godspeed.
As a born contrarian I must add that I hope the S-R’s future is not tied to Tweets and Likes because those will fade and mean nothing in a few years, but democracy needs the old print daily to stay vital, and on the streets.
We agree on the mission, but perhaps disagree on the means of carrying it out. For example all those reporters busy figuring out the new apps should be out on the streets gathering news. All that money going into computers should be going to a thicker, deeper newspaper. There will always be trees. We can grow them for you in Tennessee and Alabama faster than you can use them up: cheap trees, so keep printing.
Nobody cares what’s on Facebook - it’s an information storm. But politicians still quaver at the thought of the picture of them in panties, or taking bribes, getting on the front page.
My first day as editor of the S-R, I would pull the plug on Twitter and FB and three quarters of the computers, and send the reporters out into the streets. We’d have a one-day exercise. How many stories could we have for the next day’s paper? You have seven or eight doggone Hemingways down there - Thomas Clouse for one - fiddling with video. Stop trying to figure out the Internet. “Gather, and write.”
OK this is a congratulatory letter. I have always enjoyed reading your opinions. I am not trying to insult or antagonize, just adding my two cents to the conversation.
“Tanks for the mammaries,” Mr. Floyd.
Brent Andrews
Constant reader
Franklin, Tennessee
dougf on July 02 at 6:16 a.m.
Many thanks to all, contrarians included. Bert Caldwell and Gary Crooks are superbly capable writers and thinkers as well as dedicated journalists. They will carry The Spokesman-Review’s opinion pages to heights of excellence that uphold traditional values while capitalizing on 21st century technology. Thanks to them, the shift from participant to reader is going to be a pleasure.
—Doug Floyd
ChefGus/ John Olsen on July 02 at 6:21 a.m.
Mr Floyd… thank you again for all you have done to drag the paper into the future. I grew up in Spokane and remember the past editorial policies which were more severe and narrow than was representative of the world.
Having been retired for 11 years plus now I am sure you will find your way. The first year of retirement however ready one might think they are is Very complex and difficult.. As a manager at Group Health I helped several older docs retire before i did and watched them wend their way through it. All did well eventually, but all also suffered a fair amount with their “change of status”.
Happy to tell you more stories off line if you have an interest. John chefgusolsen@gmail.com