For fair and effective governance of this constitutional republic, citizens must be actively involved in keeping informed and exercising their right to vote, elected officials should be honest and open in their actions and decisions, and a strong, free press must hold them accountable.

That was the view of our nation's Founding Fathers, and it was eloquently echoed a week ago when constitutional scholar Dr. David Gray Adler spoke to a crowd in Coeur d'Alene.

Dr. Adler, director of the James A. and Louise McClure Center for Public Policy Research at the University of Idaho, said all three entities - elected officials, the press and the citizenry - must work hard to meet their obligations if the great American experiment is to succeed. But he was very clear that the greatest responsibility falls to the citizen.

Our Founding Fathers understood that nobody is perfect - certainly not those who govern or those who report on the actions of elected officials. It's the responsibility of the press to ensure elected officials explain their positions on bills clearly and to accurately relay information on the actions and votes of those in office. When mistakes are inevitably made, Dr. Adler said, the press must correct them.

Yet both entities ultimately must be held accountable by an informed public, and Dr. Adler emphasized that information is best gleaned from newspapers, not sound bites from talk shows and TV news blurbs.

He told readers to critically examine the stories that are published, preferably from a number of newspapers. He suggested reading at least the headlines and first few paragraphs of important stories from several papers, thereby giving the reader information from not just one reporter, but several.

Your favorite TV news programs, he said, are not reliable if they're your only source of news. They engage in interpreting the news, he said, rather than reporting it. Also, TV news stories are simply too brief.

Radio and TV political talk-show hosts? Again, Dr. Adler says they engage in opinion and interpretation, not reporting. The answer is to read a broad cross-section of newspapers.

"Be informed, alert, engaged, active participants," Dr. Adler implored his audience.

On Sunday, we'll share Dr. Adler's five principles to help get you there.