Title: The Truth – Real Stories And The Risk Of Losing A Free Press In America
Author: Bob Gabordi
Publisher: AuthorHouse
ISBN: 978-1-7283-6604-3
Pages: 209
Genre: Journalism/Media/Memoir
Reviewed by: Carol Davala
Hollywood Book Reviews
Bob Gabordi is clearly a man who believes in the First Amendment and the importance of a free press. In his latest writing endeavor The Truth – Real Stories And The Risk Of Losing A Free Press In America, the 41-year career journalist takes readers inside his profession and engagingly shares his life, work, and stories with the hope of helping others recognize the value that a journalist’s efforts bring to the freedom in our country.
Early on in this insightful work, Gabordi comments on the often disparaging remarks about the media and accusations of “fake news” that have been spouted off by the President. Yet this longtime journalist is quick to point out that politicians and government dislike of the press is nothing new. From a solid and experienced journalist’s perspective, he offers that he and fellow colleagues work as committed public servants dedicated to fairness and truth telling, and emphasizes that a personal or varying point of view does not render a story untrue. Whether investigating a New London hit-and-run cover-up involving a prominent Mayor and a college student that resulted in a less than positive outcome, or detailing the “once-in-a-lifetime” story involving a wealthy West Virginia couple accused of murdering a water taxi driver in St. Vincent, Gabordi pointedly showcases the important need for journalism and how it matters.
Having worked in news arenas both large and small throughout the North, South, and Midwestern US, as well as countries around the globe, Gabordi emphasizes the importance of community involvement where you live and work. Whether dyeing his mustache pink to bring awareness to the cause of breast cancer, coaching local baseball, or choosing to headline football over the death of Princess Diana, because he understood the emotional importance of the game to the town, Gabordi has made lasting impressions, friendships, and memories, wherever he called home.
The book includes several of Gabordi’s thought-provoking published columns. Corresponding to a relatable narrative, each represents his down-to-earth, conversational writing style. Here he incorporates a wide range of topics, and openly admits his tendency to go off on tangents or offer up snippets of stories to come later. Ultimately the enticement merely adds to his honest, approachable intentions. The focus provides a nice balance of stories both personal and professional. Among these, explorations run the gamut from revelations about his daughter’s Rett Syndrome diagnosis; dealings with an intimidating Police official; taking a finite editorial stand regarding the publication of a comic strip featuring a presidential sex scandal; to his own real-life struggles in coming to terms with a recent catastrophic brain stem stroke.
Gabordi’s work has generously afforded him an opportunity to interact with individuals from all walks of life. Whether local community members or Presidents, heroic sports figures or celebrities, the recollections are all informative and entertaining. Humorous touches are also woven throughout this collection. Chuckle-inducing memories come from Gabordi’s first-job and his mother hounding the newspaper to correct her son’s byline, while another “Shorty Story” proves a witty comeback to negative comments about Gabordi’s slight vertical stature.
In the latter part of his gratifying career, Gabordi witnessed the importance of change and new technology, though openly he expresses his concerns about the digital age and its repercussions on the fate of journalism.
Like Gabordi himself, The Truth – Real Stories And The Risk Of Losing A Free Press In America is a solid and well-defined book. Here readers are rewarded with honesty, wit, and wisdom captured in the observational writing of a lifetime journalist motivated by truth, heart, and conviction.