It didn’t take me long as a young journalist to realise all was not well with my profession. I became a reporter long ago, in 1991.

Margaret Thatcher had just been forced out, Nelson Mandela had only been released from prison, Cold War paranoia raged, and Northern Ireland lay bleeding. The internet was a rumour. My first editor still used typewriters.

I entered the news business for the same reason most folk do: I wanted to do some good in the world. I could write, so I thought I’d use that ability to shed light on issues the public needed to know about.

Soon, though, I understood that was easier said than done. There was bias and prurience in my profession which meant issues that mattered were often squeezed out.

You could write detailed investigations about important subjects only to see the stories reduced to a few paragraphs while nonsense about the royals and celebrities or moral panics and culture wars got the front page.

Only once, though, in my 35-year career have I felt that I was pressured not to write a particular story.

I should stress, however, that I’ve never worked for the right-wing billionaire London press. So maybe my values stayed more intact than others.

In reality, little has changed over those 35 years. The internet may have arrived, but all that means is celebrity nonsense and culture war babble gets more prominence on the websites of media outlets rather than on printed pages.

And in truth, the public are as much to blame for this state of affairs as journalists. Back in the golden age of print, readers made clear what they wanted by putting their hand in their pocket.

Read more by Neil Mackay

Jason........

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