Good night and good luck, Addy

SO I’m leaving the Addy. Calling time on a 20-year career in the media. Who am I? Good question. I’m the behind-the-scenes guy. The one responsible for a whole bunch of Addy front pages. Definitely hundreds, maybe more than a thousand? Maybe.

I do a bunch of other stuff as well — headlines, news packaging — lots of sitting at computers.

Anyway, the point is ... 20 years in the media coming to an end. Got it? Good. So let’s recap. Here’s a cross-section of some of the big news events that happened during my time at the barricades.

1996: Josh enters the media industry as a reporter. (I know, not earth-shattering ... don’t worry, things are about to pick up pace.) 1996: The Port Arthur massacre. 1997: Princess Diana’s death in a Paris car crash. 1998: Google founded in the US. 2000: Sydney Olympics. 2001: September 11 attacks. 2002: Bali bombing. 2003: US invades Iraq. 2004: Boxing Day tsunami. 2004: Facebook founded in US. 2007: Geelong wins first AFL Grand Final in 44 years. (Had to include it, didn’t I.) 2011: US forces kill Bin Laden. 2017: Donald Trump sworn in as US President. It’s been a busy time, huh? Are you thinking what I’m thinking? Why include Trump? Let’s face it, if he doesn’t get us all blown up, he’s probably not going to do much else. Too petty, too disorganised, too much Twitter. But old Trumpy-boy represents something else. He represents one of the traditional media’s biggest modern challenges — attacks on its legitimacy. You could argue the media brought it on itself, racing to the bottom as it battles the onslaught of online. But I’m going to let that stuff slide because the media delivers so much more to our society. And in a world of “fake news” (good catchphrase, the Nazis would have loved it), legitimacy is the heavyweight fight. So how does the media hold its ground? Hell, counterpunch even? Because, to be honest, we need ‘em more than ever.

Let’s pop the bonnet on that stuff.

The “fake news” catchphrase is corrosive but it’s debatable how much damage it will do long term.

And the media has the perfect response — doing its job. Well.

Something every news executive, editor and station boss needs to remember is the media exists to serve its community.

Some of those guys are laughing now. I can hear them in their corner offices, screaming, “It exists to sell advertising, butthead!”

Not to those who read, watch and listen.

I’m sure most people would bristle at the thought of being coerced or leveraged by a product they expect to inform them with impartiality.

They want to find out what’s going on in the world around them. A legitimate expectation.

Knowledge is power. So let’s give the people knowledge.

Good luck, media. I’ll miss you.