Sat
Oct 1 2016
06:06 am

Humphrey on the Hill: Farewell

The News Sentinel has decided to cease publication of this blog, launched on Jan. 28, 2009, effective today, Sept. 30, 2016.

I hope it has helped inform readers about Tennessee state government and politics during that time and anticipate continuing efforts to do so otherwise in the days ahead, including a continuation of working with the fine folks at the News Sentinel.

Thank you for reading.

Tom

Tom Humphrey has long been known as "The Dean" of Tennessee political journalism for his coverage of the sausage making over in Nashville and keeping us folks back east up to speed.

He formally retired from the Knoxville News Sentinel just a little over two years ago, but continued to publish the blog and newspaper columns on a freelance basis. His blog will be missed. Hopefully his columns will continue.

On a selfish note, there are several journalists in Nashville and Chattanooga taking up the slack (apparently it takes a bunch of them to replace Tom) but much of their work is now paywalled and RSS feeds have disappeared. My news feeds are bereft of state government and political news (except for the occasional press release) and it's hard to track down and follow the individual writers. Also, Tom was the last man standing on our "TN Politics" feed here at KnoxViews, so I guess that's history, too.

Anyway, Tom said when he retired that his goal was to "do about half as much work and twice as much fishing." Hope he's enjoying his retirement.

Treehouse's picture

Damn

Tom Humphrey is an excellent source of important information and the fact our local newspaper will not carry his blog is another major fail on their part and a major loss for our community and state. I wish him well in his fishing and ask for prayers and money and caring to find investigative journalists who do it for the love of news (like Tom).

PM Parris's picture

My sentiments exactly

Tom's columns, in all their forms, have been a well-written excellent source for TN political news for a very long time and it's sad to hear this, even if he had semi-retired. These days it is hard to find the type of writing Tom does -- thoughtful, concise, and informative -- in a state level focused source. Best wishes to him for a great retirement and thanks for all the years of fine journalism.

jbr's picture

This looks like an

This looks like a big opportunity for The Mercury.

danandrews's picture

It's not a big opportunity for Mercury

Sadly, people really don't care about local politics, they just don't. The amount of money and time it takes to invest in a governmental affairs desk like this is huge. The ROI JUST IS NOT WHERE IT NEEDS TO BE!

However, JBL I will say this. This is an excellent time for the community to support the Mercury as well as KnoxViews or Brianhornback.com

This is really a clarion bell for the community to donate some money to the Mercury, or to Brian's Blog, or take out an ad and show some support with Knoxviews.

This is an excellent opportunity to tag Mike Donila and WBIR and say "hey we really respect how hard you are fighting for us."

This is an excellent opportunity to reach out and say "hey Mike Steeley , thank you for being the only reporter still covering events in the City County Building from 8am to dark."

As many of you know, I am no longer a part of the established media in Knox County. I was let go due to lack of work.

I wish them well, but let me give you a quick example of what is happening in the media world. The public relations departments are becoming the media.

We are in a society where five great reviews on Amazon is worth more than thousands of dollars in ads from a news industry.

KO's picture

Is the KNS replacing him or

Is the KNS replacing him or just abandoning state politics altogether? If the latter, how does the KNS plan to attract subscribers who can get better coverage of national news elsewhere?

R. Neal's picture

They haven't replaced him.

They haven't replaced him. They were relying on Rick Locker at the Commercial Appeal, but he left a few months ago. Now they're getting it from the Tennessean's "USA Today Tennessee Network." One big happy Gannett family.

cari g's picture

Nashville/Capitol coverage

Some of Nashville Post politics coverage is paywalled, but it's all eventually unpaywalled. Some morning stories come free at 3 pm; afternoon stories go free the next morning; everything else goes free every Saturday. Or you could just subscribe and help pay my salary!

Follow @npostpolitics for basically an RSS feed - no snarky commentary from me, I just post links. We're hiring a new reporter for Post/Scene starting in a week to replace JR Lind, who just left us, so more coverage will be coming.

You should also be reading Erik Schelzig of the AP — most days it is just Erik, Andy Sher of the TFP and me over at the Capitol. Chas Sisk of WPLN also does a great job.

It's my understanding that Gannett is hiring someone else who will focus on Memphis and Knoxville politics — ie, a combined Rick and Tom — and based in Nashville, but no idea when that person is starting. Or if they'll get to spend most days at Legislative Plaza like Rick or if they'll be stuck in the Tennessean offices like Joel is most days.

Bbeanster's picture

Look for Andy Sher

Chatt. TFP.

I fear most of his stuff's behind the paywall, but Andy's one of the best reporters I've even known.

cari g's picture

Tom's blog is coming back!

In this week's Tennessee Journal, they announce Tom's blog will be on their website. Unclear as to whether it will be behind the TJ paywall, but given comments Tom made to me last night, I'm thinking not? Anyway, keep an eye out here ...

(link...)

bizgrrl's picture

Looking forward to it.

Looking forward to it.

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