Reviving the Fourth Estate: Democracy, Accountability and the Media Book

When I was a newspaper copy boy in the late 1970s, one of my jobs was to clear the telex machine, rip the paper where appropriate and arrange all the incoming stories into piles - news, sport, features etc. Mike Royko's columns were syndicated then and even came to our little newspaper in Tasmania, Australia. I spent waaaaaaaay too long poring over his humorous/poignant/indignant/teasing columns to get the other piles right for when the cranky old news editor started work and began tasting the copy. I was the last in a long line of copy boys he called Idiot Boy. I think I was Idiot Boy 26 but at least I was well read.
Imagine my delight when - now a cranky old journalist myself - I found this gem of a collection. No more curly-whirly pieces of paper.
There's a column for every mood. My favourite is Royko capturing the sense of "wow" as he sits with an elderly man and the rocket head to the moon in 1969. I think all young journalists should read that one.
Bugs in food, the Vietnam vet without a face and Frank Sinatra offering to let Royko pull his hair rate closely behind. Mike Royko made us laugh, he made us tear up.