Inside the newsroom: Biden in Park City, impeachment inquiry in Washington and a look at what comes next

Sheri Auclair is pictured during a Trump Woman 2020 Coalition meeting at the American Legion in Chanhassen, Minn., on Thursday, Sept. 12, 2019. | Tim Gruber, For the Deseret News

SALT LAKE CITY — Politics landed in Utah Saturday when Joe Biden, currently among the frontrunners for the Democratic nomination for president, arrived in Park City to spread his message for donors who wrote checks to be there and promised to provide more.

Deseret News reporter Lisa Riley Roche was granted access to the Saturday event held at a private residence, and said Biden’s remarks were largely free from the controversy that engulfed Washington, D.C. last week and promises to be a focal point of attention in the months ahead.

As Riley Roche reported, Biden told donors it’s time to “‘take back the country’ from an administration that embraces ‘thugs,’ but never mentioned the impeachment inquiry just launched against President Donald Trump.” Nor did he mention that he and his son Hunter were the subjects that led to this whole process.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, made the decision to begin an impeachment inquiry into the president following a whistleblower’s complaint about the president’s phone call to Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy that included a request to do him “a favor” and investigate Biden, a presidential opponent.

The message from the Deseret News editorial board last week was this: “The world cannot afford to have the United States paralyzed for a year.”

Is that a comment on the rightness or the wrongness of the impeachment inquiry? No. It’s a comment on the U.S. need to address international hot spots like the Middle East, Russia and China as a world leader and the need to address domestic issues, like gun violence, the soaring national debt, the economy, and managing migrants at the nation’s southern border.

The editorial board also noted the need to trust the process: “We agree that the transcript and whatever else a whistleblower might have witnessed deserves an investigation. Speed cannot come at the expense of thoroughness, of course, but America would benefit greatly from a quick vetting of the accusations. Alternatively, if one side or the other perceives political advantage in a drawn-out process, democracy will be weakened.”

Nothing brings out media criticism like reports on President Trump, Republican positions and Democrat positions. We know that. It helps keep us accountable. But each party — each side — has staked out political territory and some readers only want to read their side’s position.

We are trying to provide accurate, relevant information, a range of news stories on the actions of those in the executive and legislative branches of government, and cover the actions of Utah’s congressional delegation. On the opinion side we try to identify the principles involved in disputes and alleged wrongdoing and base our Deseret News opinions on those principles. We then give space to commentators on different sides of the issues. The hope is that that builds an informed public.

In addition to the news stories announcing the actions of President Trump, Speaker Pelosi and the unidentified whistleblower, here’s a sampling of some of the other coverage we provided on the issue this past week:

News:

“Utah’s lone Democratic congressman faces Trump impeachment test.”

“Why did Rudy Giuliana call Sen. Mitt Romney the GOP’s ‘Al Gore?’ Trump backers calling out Utah Republican.”

“Rep. Chris Stewart says Dems ‘nuts’ for attacking whistleblower’s boss.”

“Whistleblower? Cover-up? Impeachment? Your questions answered from a busy week in Washington.”

Opinion:

Deseret News opinion on impeachment: “The country needs substance, not the quick-burning combustion of political taunts.”

“Democrats’ double standard on Ukraine,” by Marc Thiessen.

“The rough transcript makes it clear that Democrats got ahead of the evidence,” also by Thiessen.

“True conservatives should be first to support an impeachment inquiry,” by Sharlee Mullins Glenn.

There were many more headlines and letters to the editor espousing points of view. That’s what a news organization does — provides news and commentary that educates, and a forum to allow readers with credible, interesting opinions to offer those opinions.

There is plenty more ahead and we commit to report and write about it. Our conversations in the newsroom will include more interesting questions about what we should cover and how we should cover it. We’ll identify successes and logjams in Washington and report the consequences and unintended consequences of Speaker Pelosi’s decision to pursue an impeachment inquiry.

We’ll acknowledge and explore the watchdog role media is playing in the inquiry. We’ll look at the impacts from a Utah perspective as well as a Western perspective. We’ll look at how millennial opinions differ from older adults who came of age during Richard Nixon’s Watergate or Bill Clinton’s impeachment fight.

That last one may seem like a small thing. But understanding the differences in attitude and approach of those who came of age after 1990 will help us understand America today. And working to understand America and understand ourselves is one of the keys to building toward a prosperous future.

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