Newsman

by Pat Collins

Killing time as he waited for Pat Collins' sister to go on a date, the Washington newspaperman took a look at the high school term paper being written by the kid brother. Not bad. Want to do some newspaper work? With that, Pat Collins' career as a newsman in his hometown Washington, DC was underway. Beginning with compilation of high school sports stats, the work would take Pat into the vibrancy of DC newsrooms, the worlds of the printers, every level of the US capital's politics, crime, business, neighborhoods, teams and sadnesses, including the Watergate. As the news industry changed, Pat entered television reporting, where he is a fixture of the city's on-air news. In reminiscing about the news industry through episodes of his own reporting, Pat Collins describes Washington as it was and as it is, all told by a newsman who has spent his life knowing one of the world's most vital cities.

269 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 9, 2022

Reviews

[Tom Figel · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a friend and Notre Dame classmate of Pat Collins, I've been lucky to observe the way Pat's reporting career has progressed within a profession that is itself different from past years. The book has merit as a reflection on Washington, DC as a town apart from the politics, as a reflection on the mean and sometimes wonderful things that occur as human beings interact with each other as mixed-up murderers, clever policemen, and witnesses, and as a reflection on the way the matter of reporting news in all media has become unlike other eras. Pat bridges those eras with his mind alert and with an appreciation for what's been left by, for example, a recently deceased mutual friend, Robert Sam Anson. The subjects are serious but Pat's writing style is clever and smooth, nothing ponderous or self-important in it. Enjoy!

[Rusty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining read from a Washington DC treasure.