News & Tech column: It's hard to say goodbye

EDITOR'S NOTE: In February 2020 I began a new venture writing a blog for "News and Tech" magazine, an magazine devoted to the newspaper industry. The blog appears on the site's homepage. This column originally appeared March 3, 2020.

On Monday night, Chris Matthews, the host of MSNBC’s “Hardball” program for more than 20 years abruptly retired from the program that he brought from obscurity to a national political media force on a fledgling liberal-bent news channel focused on taking on Fox News.

I am not in a position to comment on some of the allegations that helped push him out the door. But in his own words, he seemed to admit some culpability for his retirement, whether it really was voluntary or not.

But that’s a discussion for someone else to have. … I want to write about what Matthews meant to my career.

As a young editor working in small daily newspapers, my shifts often extended into the evening, whether it was because I was on page layout duty, copy editing duty or just finishing my own copy for the day. I know we all understand that reality. But whatever the reason that held me there at the office into the evening on any given day, it was a good bet that at some point “Hard Ball” was going to be playing on my office TV.

Back then, I watched all of the big politicos, from MSNBC to CNN to even the ones I could tolerate on Fox. I fancied myself a hard-nosed reporter, and I wanted to walk in their footsteps when I approached my local city councils and school district officials.

But I took a special liking to Matthews over all the others. I found his brash, no-nonsense style refreshing and exciting. Perfect for a TV talking head.

He epitomized to me what a reporter should be: aggressive, dogged, oblivious to common etiquette … But fair. He always seemed fair. If there were politicians on either side of the aisle that were getting out of line, or were just pandering to their base, Matthews got after them all. He was a mutual opportunity offender.

And as a young reporter, I really dug that.

But let’s face it, it was a different time and that sort of behavior, including the correlating offset behavior, was accepted. … Notice, I didn’t say acceptable.

Matthews even said so himself last night in signing off: "Compliments on a woman's appearance that some men, including me, might have once incorrectly thought were okay, were never okay. Not then and certainly not today," Matthews said. "And for making such comments in the past, I'm sorry."

Matthews, isn’t the only news media giant felled by his own actions in recent years. The list of once-admired journos who have been disgraced is unfortunately long. And I am not here to serve as judge, nor jury. … Frankly, I’m old enough that I’m sure that I’ve uttered insensitive, crude or even offensive statements in newsrooms in which I’ve worked. And, like others, I’m sorry for that all these years later.

All of that aside, it still saddens me to see Matthews retire. Thinking about his influence on my journalistic abilities, my interviewing skills, my knowledge of American politics … I can’t even begin to quantify it. In fact, the only political journalist of the past 20 years that had more of an impact on my life as a journalist was Tim Russert, a veteran journalist cut from the same cloth as Chris Matthews.

This is probably of little consolation to Matthews, but he left a legion of fans behind in his wake. He may have committed some offensive acts in his time, and he may have justifiably been forced out before he was ready to go, but his legacy will live on in the many journalists he inspired over a generation.

Enjoy your retirement, Mr. Matthews. You’ve earned it.

Devlyn Brooks is president of Modulist, a media services company specializing in the processing of user-generated paid content submissions for newspapers. Devlyn spent 20 years writing and editing in newsrooms big and small, dailies and weeklies.