Former Journalist Thomas Ritchie Gives Insights to College Students In Journalism

“Journalism is dead,” Thomas Ritchie said to the Fundamentals of Journalism class at Morningside University last Tuesday. Thomas Ritchie came to speak about his life, experience, and what he thought about the journalism industry. Today, Ritchie works for Great West Insurance, a company that insures truck drivers on the road.

Demonstrating the decline of the the field of journalism, Ritchie described his work at the Sioux Falls’ Argus Leader. There were 74 people working for the Argus Leader when Ritchie joined year ago, whereas there are only 8 people left today, according to Ritchie. “Journalism has changed,” Ritchie said. Ritchie believes that media has become splintered since the age of social media. “Social media has changed everything,” Ritchie told the class. Ritchie also talked about the rise of opinionated journalism and the straying from objectivity. Though these quotes show Ritchie having a negative attitude towards his profession, he remained content that he had did it.

Reliving the happier days of journalism, Ritchie described a story where ehe interviewed a man who lived to be 100 years old. In the interview Ritchie asked the man how he was able to live so long. The man replied, “smoke cigars and have a lot of sex.”