The Writing Life: Telex Machines and Baksheesh Of Another Era

I've often told friends that the worst professional decision that I ever made was to leave the hallowed hallways of the New York Times, where I'd worked since my college days in the United States. That was back in 1985, when the pursuit and practice of journalism was very different from what it is these days. Those were days of romance for those like me who lived in the world of hard-earned words.

These days, anyone with a smart phone can bat out a blog; if the story is predicated on a breaking news event then, potentially, the writer might reach a global audience of millions. "Instant journalism" is what it's all about, and vehicles of social media such as Twitter and Facebook and YouTube can create instant stars. Indeed, various studies have shown that the primary source of news for a growing number of people is social media.

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