An era of Cleveland television has come to and end. Tim Taylor, 6 and 10PM news anchor at WJW FOX 8 for 28 years retired on December 23rd. You can feel an emptiness in the newsroom in the wake of his departure. It sounds melodramatic but its true. Maybe its because I remember watching Taylor growing up in Cleveland and for the last several years, I had the distinct honor of working with him. I vividly remember as a young child hearing his voice from the family room TV during the evening news as we cleaned up the kitchen after dinner. He was the symbol of credibility in this environment of "entertainment news" the likes that will never be duplicated. The newsroom will be different without him.
Quick story. I remember last summer while going through some old weather records from Dick Goddard's archive when I came across a notation that Goddard made from 1991. The exact date excapes me. At any rate, the notation wasn't about some freak meteorlogical event as one might think. The note simply read in red ink:
FLY GOES IN TIM'S HAIR AND DOESN'T COME OUT
Now that's good stuff from yester-year! But I digress...
The nature of television news has changed dramatically over the last decade and continues to change. Unfortunately, the era of "REAL JOURNALISM" most would agree is drawing to a close as "ENTERTAINMENT NEWS" replaces it. As the Tim Taylors and Tom Browkaws of the world retire, the era of "REAL and CREDIBLE JOURNALISM" seems to be retiring with them. I just hope that I'm wrong.
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