first Kay Watson and now Hillary. She will be missed...

for those aspiring media journalists that want to practice their craft and mix it up in the rough and tumble world of what's left of broadcast journalism. Those that are good do their time here and move on to bigger markets or take up squatters rights here in this market.

Most local news organizations are flushing hard news reporting in favor of feel good, cater to the advertiser, business as opposed to journalistic practices.

In my opinion, you put a Bill Williams, a Robin Willhoit, or a Gene Patterson in a major media market with a hard news bent, they'd be collossal failures given their inability to perform the essential duties of a first amemdment protected journalistic news outlet.

"Dr." Lake was never a good fit for Knoxville. She was quick to follow whatever tips came into the newsroom without even knowing what she was reporting on.

I usually don't respond to ignorant, judgmental, insulting comments written on the web by people who don't know me. In fact, many of us who "just like being on TeeVee" have thick skins & have learned to ignore a lot of the noise people feel they can throw our way because we are in the public eye. However, if you really knew me, you'd know being on "TeeVee" is the least of my concerns. It's a job requirement, yes, but it doesn't define me. I can't say the same for some of my colleagues both here in Knoxville and across the country. As far as "being quick to follow tips" and "not knowing what I was reporting on," you couldn't be farther than the truth. Then again, you likely don't know me either. I can't tell though because you're hiding behind an alias. I don't have the luxury of doing that in my line of work. Of course, I follow up on tips, nearly every one that comes my way. Most don't pan out, and those don't get reported. We report those that check out, which sometimes doesn't help me make friends. I don't do this work for that though. It's my job to ask questions, do research, make sense of information & present it in a factual, fair, compelling manner. I'd be failing as a journalist if I didn't ask questions. To say that I didn't know what I report about us the biggest insult of them all. I'm not even going to dignify it by defending myself against it. Not everyone who likes to "be on TeeVee" is self-absorbed, air-headed & lazy with reporting. Remember that before you cast more stones at people in our profession. Most of us work hard, for the same reasons you newspaper folks do: the truth always wins & deserves to be told.