After reading the Dec. 28 Monitor, I’m so upset regarding the poor journalism displayed that I need to write immediately.

The phrase “Lawmakers get creative…” has a very different connotation than what the real story reveals. It goes on with the headline of “Session has new normals.” There is nothing normal about what is transpiring.

Listing various ways the House has met in session at the ice rink at UNH during COVID, the article starts off with a description of “desks six feet apart.” The real description should have read, the legislators sat in fold-up chairs, certainly NOT desks, for six hours! Even students have chairs with fold-down tops, but not legislators.

The outdoor December meeting on the field hockey field while in the 30s, was a hazard for all, including but not limited, to the older members of the House. This choice may also have contributed to the untimely death of Speaker Hinch the following week of COVID. Many attendees chose not to physically distance nor to wear masks.

Many representatives could not represent their constituents by being present. This was AFTER the NH Supreme Court had ruled there was nothing in the constitution that would forbid remote hearings. The House Rules are regularly suspended to allow for changes for an assortment of reasons and could have addressed this issue.

Furthermore, when the House Rules Committee met, the majority would not allow a recommendation to allow for hybrid or remote sessions to be offered, so a motion will have to come from the “floor” of the parking lot with no leadership evidenced by this Speaker on this issue.

Apparently, the reporter has access to the Speaker that is not being afforded the Minority Leader. The newspaper is being used to disseminate information about the Jan. 6 session.

Rather than describing a 20th century “drive-in movie” scene for the NH House to meet in a parking lot with golf carts driving up and down the aisles collecting our paper ballots for each vote, it seems to meet that a responsible journalist would have asked why would this be the plan?

Technology is being used countless times daily throughout our state and nation to bring businesses, families and government together. For the past nine months, the Legislative Committees and Caucuses have met numerous times securely and safely. There is non-partisan voting software available that is secure and easy to use.

The Republican leadership is under a great deal of pressure from the extremists in their party. Without in-person meetings, they cannot display their anti-mask positions, and in doing so expose everyone else to the virus. The acting, and likely, Speaker needs to consider the good of the whole, including many on his side of the aisle who are vulnerable.

The Legislature also has disabled and low-income members for whom driving to UNH is impossible and they will be unable to attend under any condition. There are numerous other obstacles for all, including accessible restrooms in the parking lot, snowy road conditions and the inability for the public to attend the session.

There was no attempt for this reporter to obtain pertinent information for the public to review. This reporter also wanted to promote this Speaker’s plan to use the Legislative Office Building with no details about how this virtually unvented building will be used during the pandemic with some, no doubt, quick fixes with an unknown price tag, that is currently closed until May, 2021 and under major construction, if anyone had noticed lately.

We need to rely on journalists who ask probing questions in the public interest to keep everyone informed in a fact-based manner. In my opinion, the news media has a responsibility to do more than fill newsprint.

(Rep. Christy Dolat Bartlett of Concord represents voters in Merrimack County District 19.)