I will start this piece with my own personal Tom Brokaw story.

In 1980, I was working as a journalist at radio station WCSI, in Columbus, Indiana.  Columbus had a long-running series of bringing-in famous guest speakers.  In 1980, Tom Brokaw was one of the speakers.

There was also a tradition of having a “Meet The Press” style interview for the guest speakers that was recorded and shown on the local cable TV access channel.  I had been assigned to serve on that panel to question Mr. Brokaw.

I get nervous sometimes meeting famous people for the first time, so I waited until the very last minute to enter Columbus East High School, where the video recording was to be done.  I thought I had succeeded until I turned the final corner in the hallway, and there he was.

Tom Brokaw gave me a pleasant smile, extended his hand, introduced himself and wanted to know all about me.  That’s my Tom Brokaw story.  He was a very interesting and insightful interview subject and had that midwestern charm, having grown-up in a small South Dakota town.

He later became even more of a celebrity by coining the phrase, “The Greatest Generation,” describing those suffering through years of the Great Depression then serving in World War II. I bring up Tom Brokaw, with a long list of credits on his resume, because he is retiring.  As he leaves the public stage, he has some comment the news business should take to heart.

Mr. Brokaw has some very good advice to those producing news, be it for print, TV or radio.  He simply says, get on an airplane and find out what is going on in America between the two coasts.  He is correct that most news organizations are centered in New York, Washington DC and to a lesser extent Los Angeles.

“Take some of the people who are only in Washington and send them to Salt Lake City or Kansas City, or St. Louis for that matter,” Brokaw told the Associated Press.  In my view, he is correct.

News organizations have been cutting back on their reporting staffs and others involved in producing news content.  Those cuts did not impact the New York or Washington news staffs in the same way it reduced the reporters assigned around the United States and internationally.

If main stream media outlets want to provide news that appeals to the entire country, you need to cover stories impacting people in every part of the nation.  I believe some of the distrust of national media comes from the lack of paying enough attention to what is happening in the lives of people in their own communities.

Particularly in an era when the economic model of news is rapidly changing, the national media, which for the most part is doing quite well economically, should be more attuned to what is happening to people in the midwestern, south and southeast parts of the United States.

LarryInFishers.com is just a small, volunteer effort by me to try my best at informing people in the community where I live.  But more and more people, particularly in rural areas, are without any type of regular local news outlet.

So, media, it’s time to step up to the plate and take heed of advice from one of the best journalists in recent times.  I wish Tom Brokaw all the best as he enters retirement, and wish him good health as he battles those issues.

You can read the story about the Tom Brokaw interview with the Associated Press at this link.