Journalism.

I was in the 10th grade when the Watergate story broke.

I didn’t really follow the news closely, but it didn’t take long for the story to catch my interest. I was especially enamored with Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, the Washington Post reporters who led the reporting about the cover-up that eventually led to Richard Nixon resigning the presidency.

I started writing for the Milford High School newspaper, The Jolly Roger, and set my sights on becoming a reporter.

I studied Journalism at Delaware Tech for two years, planning to finish at the University of Delaware. But a job offer at a local radio station derailed those plans. I could study the subject for two more years, or actually work in the field. At the time it seemed an easy and wise choice, and I became the News Director at WJWL and WSEA in Georgetown, DE.

I was actually the only news person, but the title News Director sounded fairly important for this 19 year old farm boy. I made $90 a week. No benefits.

Woodward and Bernstein…watch your backs.

My Journalism instructor was Dr. Harriet Smith. She taught us that reporters were supposed to be objective. Keep our opinions to ourselves. Present both sides of the story fairly.

I figured that’s what every journalist did.

And back then, the late 1970’s, I think that was mostly accurate.

Opinions were kept on the Opinion Page.

I later worked at an all-news radio station in Wilmington, DE and then I was a TV news reporter in Salisbury, MD for four years. I never once set out to cover a story with an agenda or an ax to grind. I reported the facts. Both sides of the story. My editors expected it. Demanded it.

I’ve written about this before so I won’t belabor the point. But, it is so sad to see what has become of journalism. When I chose it as a career, it was a respectable profession.

In the 1970’s, 72% of Americans expressed confidence in the media. Today confidence is at a record low of 28%, and dropping. Newspapers as an institution are at 17% confidence, and TV as an institution is a dismal 11%. That’s one percentage point better than Congress.

Local newspaper, radio and TV isn’t as bad, but the news available from those sources is drying up quickly as newspapers fold and radio stations rarely have local news departments. Even the ones you think have news departments often outsource the job to someone in a far away city and it’s pre-recorded hours before it airs. At a Feb 11, 2026 Senate hearing, NAB’s CEO said fewer than half of TV stations report their local news operations are profitable. The advertising dollars are moving away from local TV.

I used to think the journalism industry could be saved. I am not so sure anymore.

The industry has brought it upon itself.

What used to be news is now “entertainment” and propaganda. I think it very telling that most of the news broadcasts call themselves “shows”. As in, “We’ll discuss the new budget bill on tomorrow nights show.” The stuff you read, even from so called mainstream media, is biased and barely disguised as propaganda. And it goes both ways on the political spectrum. Both sides only tell you want they want you to hear. Forget fair and balanced.

It makes me sad.

And frankly it should make us all worried.

I remember when Bill Frank and Ralph Moyed and other journalists were the watchdog of our government here in Delaware. Bet you can’t name anyone of this generation working for a newspaper or media organization that has that kind of gravitas.

Some independent muckrakers are doing their best to keep government honest, but the days of large mainstream platforms with honest journalism are gone…and probably gone forever.

If sunlight is the best disinfectant, I fear we’re entering some dark days.