re: The journalism industry is in free fall

Straight out of Vietnam in 1970, I worked hard to earn a degree in newsprint Journalism from LSU.

Naive and honest to the bone, I plied my way through community journalism and then up to editing at a regional level. Retired from The Advocate in 2012.

My dismay with honest reporting was already growing rapidly as I saw opinion seep into virtually every story I edited. Today I am almost ashamed that I have to call myself a retired journalist.

But when newspapers did their job, it was a thrill and a proud time of my life. Heck, in the 70s and 80s we were almost treated like celebrities. Maybe that was one of the problems.

Reading newspaper stories today is disheartening — errors, typos and opinionated verbs fill the pages. And when I see a story bylined by The AP — I just cringe.