Bill Barth

Sometimes life leads to what might seem unlikely pen pals.

Wait.

Is that still a recognizable phrase in the age of social media? It harkens to a time when people put thought into words that they committed to paper – called letters – and sent them through the U.S. Postal Service. These days the post office delivers mostly junk mail while people put their lives on social media. For a lot of folks, texting is as close as they come to writing letters.

My pen pal and I are not total human anachronisms. We skip the postal route and write emails. Not often, maybe a couple of times a year. It’s a good way to stay in touch and catch up.

Jane Wood is a former Beloit city manager, who retired a couple decades back. It’s accurate to say she was a bit of an “Iron Lady,” intensely focused on what she wanted to get done and unrelenting in pressing the case. She didn’t smile easily. She did not waste words. She got to the point and often dispensed with the puffy niceties that move air but not necessarily agendas.

Not surprisingly, she could be a controversial leader.

Also not surprisingly, she and I knocked heads relatively often when I was leading the Beloit paper’s reporting. Our journalists were aggressive in covering City Hall and any controversies that arose. There’s a natural friction between government officials and reporters. Sometimes that can seem like the administration and the press operate at cross purposes. Both have a job to do and getting along is not the prime objective. An adversarial relationship is common. Jane and I fairly often found ourselves occupying that space.

But when she was leaving we presented her with the prestigious annual Laurence A. Raymer Headliner Award. That’s because (a) she always had our respect, and (b) she had accomplished some big things, lasting things that made Beloit more successful.

I won’t run through the entire list, but here’s a big one. The Gateway development east of the interstate highway might not be there without Jane Wood. She deserves credit for working with the Town of Turtle to open land for development. Today, thousands of jobs exist there along with residential properties housing hundreds of families. Getting there was like dragging lead weight over the finish line, but it has made a massive difference in Beloit’s potential.

So we’ve stayed in touch, not because of our professions, but in spite of them. The word that describes our ability to do that is respect. Mutual respect. Two people who did their jobs, understood the roles, and didn’t take it personally.

I write this not because readers should care about me or Jane, or whether we do or do not get along years later. We’re a couple of has-beens and we know it.

Instead, this observation follows President Trump’s arbitrary decision to – in his words – “ban” CNN, MSNOW and Politico from the White House grounds. He again called them “fake news.” He said he didn’t like their reporting and called it “negative.” When the organizations’ reporters showed up at White House checkpoints their credentials were confiscated and they were turned away.

Courts will have the final say, even if appeals take time. Singling out particular news organizations for punishments generally has not been embraced by judges over history. The First Amendment is quite clear that government officials may not interfere or punish news organizations for doing their job as they see fit.

Meanwhile, media organizations will continue to report, whether it’s outside or inside the fence. As a journalist with more than five decades of experience, I can tell readers this kind of treatment goes over like waving a red flag at a bull. Not only will impacted news agencies redouble their efforts at deep coverage, so will all the others as they stand in solidarity. Trying to limit scrutiny will result in more scrutiny. Watch and see.

The onset of the digital age has not been kind to news organizations. The advertising business model has been eroded. As a result, scores of newspapers have closed. Thousands of journalists have been let go. Television and radio outlets are going through similar trials. The outcome has not been good for the American people, as more and more communities have no one keeping an eye on the inner workings of the government. That opens the door to abuse of power and corruption.

The Founders and Framers knew it. That’s why they built in protections for a free, independent press. Keep that in mind. Undermining the press is, in a very real sense, undermining the Constitution.

There’s a role both for officials and the press. A role that keeps America strong, because it keeps America accountable.

Jane Wood and I, perhaps, understand that better now than we did when both of us were neck deep in the trenches. No doubt, there were times then when both of us wanted to throttle the other. Even so, there was respect that has allowed us to be pen pals –even get together for coffee during infrequent visits.

Thin-skinned public officials who want to control the press poorly serve the cause of freedom. Respect the roles.

Bill Barth is the former Editor of the Beloit Daily News, and a member of the Wisconsin NewsMedia Hall of Fame. Write to him at bbarth@beloitdailynews.com.