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.
Jay GreesonHe was carjacked - while he was driving newspaper owner Roy McDonald's car, mind you - on his way to an assignment at Erlanger hospital. He covered snake oil salesmen as well as snake handlers - seriously, he was there when one of the pastors of a rural church was bitten and died - on his path. He covered thousands of hours of City Council meetings, debates and community meetings.
He was involved in more dust-ups and showdowns - like the famous night he was put in the pokey for trying to make sure a certain rural Tennessee election was on the up-and-up - than any fictional reporter in some page-turner could imagine.
J.B., who retired from the newspaper in 1999 after a 59-year career, embraced what every reporter these days should: Connecting readers to the truth.
He did not have Twitter or the FaceSpace for gauging public sentiment or reactions to his words.
Nope, J.B. walked every day to City Hall, talking with the decision makers - and the folks the decision makers talked with - to make sure he had it right before he sat down to write.
We consume more news than ever before. That would make J.B. proud.
But we doubt that news at an all-time level. That would make him sad.
As we all try to find our way in a world in which one star athlete who represents Nike (Colin Kaepernick) divides us and another star athlete who represents Nike (Tiger Woods) unites us, this disconnect should not surprise anyone.
J.B. Collins spent his professional life doing the often tedious and tiring yet exhilarating and satisfying work of reporting what was happening in our city and why his readers should care.
For that, we all owe the 101-year-old Collins a tip of the cap. And we can all smile at those happier times.
Contact Jay Greeson at jgreeson@timesfreepress.com and 423-757-6343.