The Why and Wherefore

I won't go into how it was better back then. Well, maybe I'll touch on it a little. Journalism ethics and morality have been corrupted in recent times due to the decline in newspaper readership. For newspapers to survive at all, and to bring in the necessary money to do so, good journalism in many quarters is no longer that important. Whatever sells is.

I was good at "mining" the territory, finding interesting things and people to write about. 

Personally, I liked to use a lot of quotes. I tried to make the complex simple by explaining it in simple terms. I stressed keeping me ("I") out of the story completely. My byline was enough.

If I am "old school" I am not apologizing for it. We all get old, hopefully, and school is still a place to learn.

I didn't write to be famous, nor to scoop anyone. I liked the process of writing. I wrote to beat a deadline, to draw a check, to have as much fun as the work would allow.

 

-- Bryce Martin