Book Beginning: Due Diligence and the News by Stanley E. Flink

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS
THANKS FOR JOINING ME ON FRIDAYS FOR BOOK BEGINNING FUN!

Apologies for my late start this week. Things have been hopping at my office and I forgot to post last night. I only just now remembered!

MY BOOK BEGINNING

My conviction is that freedom of the press will survive only if a large proportion of the citizenry is willing to watch over it.

Due Diligence and the News: Searching for a Moral Compass in the Digital Age by Stanley E. Flink.

This new book may sound a little wonky, but it called to me as soon as I saw it. Lots of attorneys may never talk to a reporter, but I talk with media often as part of my job. Our cases are in the news a lot, for many reasons, because we handle sex abuse cases. For example, we have lots of sexual abuse cases against the Boy Scouts and the organization is planning on filing for bankruptcy. And when we filed a case against a private school here in Portland this month, our client and my blue fingernails were in the news. Our hope with these stories is that witnesses will come forward and that other victims will know that they were not alone in their experiences.

So freedom of the press, truth in news telling, and how citizens should best find true news and watchdog media are all issues I feel strongly about. I look forward to reading the essays in Stan Flink's book.

Please join me every Friday to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. Please remember to include the title of the book and the author’s name.

EARLY BIRDS & SLOWPOKES: This weekly post goes up Thursday evening for those who like to get their posts up and linked early on. But feel free to add a link all week.

SOCIAL MEDIA: If you are on Twitter, Instagram, or other social media, please post using the hash tag #BookBeginnings. I try to follow all Book Beginnings participants on whatever interweb sites you are on, so please let me know if I have missed any and I will catch up. Please find me on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

YOUR BOOK BEGINNING




TIE IN: The Friday 56 hosted by Freda's Voice is a natural tie in with this event and there is a lot of cross over, so many people combine the two. The idea is to post a teaser from page 56 of the book you are reading and share a link to your post. Find details and the Linky for your Friday 56 post on Freda’s Voice.

MY FRIDAY 56

The moral compass in early American public life found few steady hands, but those who spoke out against slavery needed newspapers to amplify their message. Some anti-slavery publishers were attacked by mobs, their printing equipment set ablaze.