Wikipedia vs. wrinkles

I sit beside a veteran journalist who was formerly a TV reporter. He knows politics, all politics, and spews decades-old facts and stories like he's telling you what he had for lunch.

But there is a thick air of bitterness he exudes from time to time. It comes from the perception -- some real, some perceived -- of becoming sidelined in a media industry obsessed with the younger and younger.

It leaves a bittersweet taste on the tip of my tongue. On one hand, I have undoubtedly been a beneficiary of that, especially in the online field where it pays to have grown up immersed in the medium.

But on the other hand, even as I manage projects with people all older than me, I cringe at the control I've been granted in the wrinkled face of experience.

God forbid I one day am being bossed around by some 20-something know-it-all. I imagine it must wilt their ego to the size of a prune.

The flip side is I am in awe by the reporter's knowledge, the result of decades of experience in the field. I look forward to the day when I become the go-to person on a topic.

Though from observation, it seems the young reporters search out their own information, googling it or otherwise; the older, and shall I say wiser, drop by the veteran reporter's desk with an old-fashioned verbal query.

So, perhaps Google will rule the world eventually after all. Though how accurate the world would be, I don't know.