The End Of Journalism As I Knew It

I have worked for a lot of jerks in my time in journalism, most of them men, most of those white and most older than me.  There was my first job out of college with the sadist who used to bring his leather-boy friends to the office. When he allowed me to take the day after Thanksgiving off and then rescinded that after I had made family plans, he said I could take the day off but don't come back. I didn't. There was the editor of a weekly community paper who kept the police scanner on all the time, loud. When I turned it down he came out screaming. When I came back from getting a story from the police blotter about an elderly woman mugged in her building's elevator I wrote it, he read it and then called the woman as I sat across from him. Through a combination of fake sympathy, gile and pressure he got her to give him details, including of how she felt going through that frightening experience. I learned two things that day: Speaking to a person is better than getting a rep...

When President Donald Trump insulted CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins during a press conference in early February, I got a feeling of deja vu. From the site Democracy Now : President Donald Trump : “You know, you are the worst reporter. No wonder CNN   has no ratings because of people like you. You know, she’s a young woman. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you smile. I’ve known you for 10 years. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a smile on your face.” Kaitlan Collins : Well, I’m asking you about survivors of Jeffrey Epstein, Mr. President.” President Donald Trump : “You know why? You know why you’re not smiling? Because you know you’re not telling the truth. And you’re a — you’re a very dishonest organization, and they should be ashamed of you. (https://www.freeiconspng.com) There are many, many instances of Trump insulting women reporters trying to do their jobs. It was the line about not smiling that got my attention. I have been getting crap like that all my life, starting with my father. A...

When I was a reporter I got a lot of invitations. My beat was insurance, so many of the invitations were to insurance company or agency association functions, both in the New York City area where I lived and worked, and elsewhere. You might be surprised at some of the famous - or infamous - people who show up at insurance functions. OJ Simpson, the famous running back , sometime actor and infamous criminal defendant , who was working in Hertz Rent-A-Car ads , drew a big crowd during an insurance conference when he was handing out small, yellow, Hertz-branded footballs. Mookie Wilson , one of my favorite players for the New York Mets, whose at-bat during the 1986 World Series is forever etched in baseball lore, was at an insurance function and autographed his picture for me. I still have it. One of my favorite moments was with the golf legend Arnold Palmer . For those too young to remember him, he was the Tiger Woods of his day. He even had his own " Arnie's Army " of f...

On  a cold and very windy February day I needed something to do. I decided to tackle my home office's closet, where we keep supplies and other things. In the course of doing so I discovered files upon files of old newspaper clippings from my years in journalism. From the time I graduated Boston University until I switched to copy editing to stay employed - ironic, considering copy editors are now being replaced by artificial intelligence  - I was a print reporter for a number of small business publications, and one five-day business newspaper - all now long out of business. Found in my closet with my clippings. So I'm talking about decades of clips. I dumped most of them in two large garbage bags intending to throw them out. But my husband thinks they can be useful in remembering what journalism was like back in the day. And I do mean back. At J-school we used electric typewriters. At  home I used a manual typewriter. Businesses used computers so big they were put in a de...