These are troubling times for professionals in my line of work.
The words “fake news” are bandied about when someone in power doesn’t like the way a news story is presented. Readers, viewers, listeners trust mainstream media outlets less and less because news reports do not fit their world view.
Then there is the ammunition my colleagues and I can provide our critics when we make a mistake, be it a factual error, a transposed figure or misspelled name.
And then there is the vast divide in between, where intent and human error collide. It’s a different time, when two of the biggest broadcast news organizations in the world – Fox and CNN – are more worried about program ratings than news gathering.
And this brings me to reminiscing about another era in journalism, and to wishing a happy 101st birthday to one of the legends of the news gathering business in town. Former Chattanooga Free Press reporter J.B. Collins turned 101 Monday. Friends, there are few folks who put fingers on keyboards in Chattanooga who do not know of Collins’ legendary status, and fewer still able to craft a legacy like his.