Born in 1939 to parents who worked in radio and TV news, Utley personified the “old school” journalist who traveled the world gathering the news and writing and reporting his own stories. Edward R. Murrow, Eric Sevareid, Walter Cronkite, Mike Wallace — we’re losing them, one by one. And they aren’t being replaced.
Too many “journalists” today are just photogenic news readers practicing churnalism at the behest of employers more interested in ratings than news. And too much “news” today is partisan commentary, pretty blonde eye candy, viewer tweets, self-absorbed “celebrities,” and mind-numbingly dumb discussions (or shouting matches).
I am saddened to learn of Utley’s death. Saddened even more to have learned of it more than two weeks after the fact. His passing should have been noted far more than it was by those who stood on his shoulders but aren’t qualified to have carried his notebooks.