Chris Wallace is asked what he'd say to college students thinking about going into journalism today. "The best answer to that is the fact that I've got four kids and none of them are going into journalism," he says. "When I started back in 1969 it was a completely different industry. I think the standards were higher -- we focused on real news and less on celebrity news and car chases and a bunch of the junk that passes for news these days. I'm very fortunate, as my father has been, that I've been able to stay in the high end of the business. But as a kid starting out, I don't think you would be assured of that."

David Halberstam.  So many miles yet to go.

Surely, he's in the Top 5 of journalists in the 20th century who demonstrably made things better by his reporting.  A lovely remembrance today (4/24) on NPR from Scott Simon.

His impact on Vietnam was so important.  I was there then.  More than anyone, he told it "like it was."  I think I have, too.  He also was so influential with younger people, especially younger journalists.  It is a noble cause.

In the NY Times today, he is quoted as remembering a quote from basketball great Julius Irving:  ‘Being a professional is doing the things you love to do, on the days you don’t feel like doing them.’  Yup.