Thanks to those of you who read my first column and to those who subscribed to read future essays. My intent is to write about media issues, usually Iowa-based, but occasionally on national media issues. Now that the first column is launched, I want to provide a brief bit of background. I’m a blissfully retired journalist, having spent 43 years in Iowa radio and television. I’m a graduate of the fine School of Journalism at the University of Missouri, my home state. In 1976, I moved to Des Moines, having never set foot in Iowa before. WHO radio hired me as a reporter and eventually I anchored a two-hour afternoon news block. It was the heyday of radio news, but the pay was terrible and I didn’t see much future in it. So, when a TV news reporter job opened at KCCI-TV, I applied and got it.
Hi, Kathi. That’s certainly a topic I intend to explore. So much has changed since I started in journalism in the mid-1970’s. There have been identifiable events that changed not only how journalists write fairly, but also how the public perceives whether something is biased or not. More to come. Thanks for subscribing!
Thanks for the intro, Dave. I watched you on tv years ago, then sort of wondered what you did after slipping into “management.” I look forward to learning more. Wow, it seems hard to believe that politicians worked together in the past.
Jim, the Iowa Legislature I covered managed to get things done eventually. There was plenty of partisan wrangling, but they would negotiate and come together at the end of the session to pass meaningful bills. Then they'd go out drinking and dining together. That sure doesn't happen today. Not much collegiality. Too much partisan animus. Too much blocking of the other side's bills just so they don't get a "win". The worthiness of the legislation be damned. The impact on real people be damned.
Lovely!
I'm very excited about this, hopeful to read some insight into what inthesamhill has happened to journalists writing without bias.
Hi, Kathi. That’s certainly a topic I intend to explore. So much has changed since I started in journalism in the mid-1970’s. There have been identifiable events that changed not only how journalists write fairly, but also how the public perceives whether something is biased or not. More to come. Thanks for subscribing!
Thanks for the intro, Dave. I watched you on tv years ago, then sort of wondered what you did after slipping into “management.” I look forward to learning more. Wow, it seems hard to believe that politicians worked together in the past.
Jim, the Iowa Legislature I covered managed to get things done eventually. There was plenty of partisan wrangling, but they would negotiate and come together at the end of the session to pass meaningful bills. Then they'd go out drinking and dining together. That sure doesn't happen today. Not much collegiality. Too much partisan animus. Too much blocking of the other side's bills just so they don't get a "win". The worthiness of the legislation be damned. The impact on real people be damned.
Dave,
It’s a gift to us all to get to read your posts. You have an invaluable perspective and articulate it masterfully.
Thanks for doing this!