I will always be a journalist, a member of the press; even though my last official assignment was in 2007.

I served three great companies Spartan Communications, Meredith Corporation, and Belo Corporation. Inside these organizations I have served WSPA-TV, WYCW-TV, KPHO-TV, WCNC-TV and the numerous other properties associated with their parent organizations including WVEC-TV, KHOU-TV, WFAA-TV, WGCL-TV, and The Dallas Morning News.

I mourn the loss of lives at the Capital Gazette and the hundreds of journalists, individuals serving in the press whom I have met who sacrificed it all to bring us news and information from abroad. All my colleagues who are friends and family have dedicated their professional career and lives to fair and balanced reporting.

This family is dear to me, a career I took and still embrace very seriously since my first job at WSPA-TV…to seek truth and share expediently.

There are many days I miss being on the front lines, but today I not only mourn for the Capital Gazette…I still believe in the commitment to a free press.

I have stood around family and friends who use the term “fake news” freely, as if the newly formed cliche brings meaning to a democratic way of life. It is my hope that when we chat, those understand I served an institution that has been committed since the foundation of this country to provide access to information that is far more reaching than the phrase “fake news”.

I continue to pray for my colleagues and friends across this great nation, who continue work hard to bring the masses news and information. I pray for their safety and their commitment to a fair and balanced press.