That trench coat wearing, scoop sniffing, former Fort Worth newsman turned national treasure Bob Schieffer is retiring at 78.
I can’t recall how many times I’ve awakened on a Sunday morning with a throbbing head, turned on the TV at the end of my bed, and watched Face The Nation while trying to summon the energy and courage to sit upright and begin my day.
Schieffer hosted that show for 24 years. His gentle but persistent interviewing style helped spur debate while not devolving the conversation into Jerry Springer meltdowns.
Schieffer’s civil manner worked well for Sunday mornings. This Sunday will be Schieffer’s last time to host the program, and I’ll miss the old codger.
He tells the Associated Press that he still sees a future in journalism for young reporters regardless of how the industry is struggling currently. He worries about the accuracy of stories now that newsrooms are being slashed and editors aren’t as common as they once were, but thinks the news media will persevere.
“The fact is there will always be a need for reporters, whether they are doing it on television or a website or for a newspaper that is not on paper anymore,” he said.
If anyone knows what makes Washington tick it’s Schieffer, and so this quote about modern politicians stands out: “I don’t mean they’re bad people, but they’re different. They have to raise so much money, they have to sign off with so many interest groups to get here that once they’re here they can’t compromise their positions. Their positions are set in stone.”
Bob tells it like it is for the most part–I think that journalists are ,like politicians, are also different and feel the need to be beholden to their big media industry employers screw ball ideologies. Most at Bob’s level are also extremely well compensated for peddling propaganda. I would love to see Bob unencumbered by media industry override and really give us fully unfiltered insights,because I think that he would be the one ethical guy who could do it.