Comments by "Mike Nixon" (@mikenixon2401) on "He Reported From Russia Before Putin" video.

  1. Wow David, you are so timely with this piece. Although I never met him, I remember Hedrick Smith, and along with others of my professional peers, used him among several legendary (older cousin) examples in repotig news and conducting feature stories during our careers. I was among the final generation of shoe leather and combat boot reporters he mentions. The best tool I had in coducting fair reporting was genuinely listening to both sides and accurately without prejudice reporting what they had to say. The best compliment I ever received was that I respected people, no matter who they were, as I covered folks from the most affluent to the greatest impoverished. I have covered news in person, in combat areas -- an officer once quippped to me, "Hell, all you have to shoot is a camera" -- to the suit and tie experiences of corporate news conferences, legal venues and major political interviews. I consider myself blessed with opportunity and experience. Hedrick Smith is correct, news as what we today have come know with the catch phrase "real news" comes from actually being present among the action. Not just writing what you see on the Internet or remaking something off a news wire. We need to get back to having news reporters eat the same dirt as real people on the ground of real life. Elitism "journalism" is an insult to hard working old time newsmen like Hedrick Smith and even me (and some great newswomen) who hit the streets and were sweating in the field every day (even without a byline) to not boost their images, but serve the communities where they lived and the nation as a whole.
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