Kentucky journalist has been on the job for 71 years

GRAYSON, Ky. (WCHS/WVAH) — Living inside the mind of Jim Phillips is 71 years of journalism experience.

“Thirteen,” Phillips said. “That’s when. I was 13 when I started.”

He began publishing his own newspaper with a friend around 1947 in Grayson, Ky., where he lives and works now.

Then, he worked for a local newspaper before switching to radio in 1969, he said.

“There have been stories that have been monumental. I’m not saying that just because I covered them. They just happened to be before me, and I was there," Phillips said.

Phillips believes he doesn’t get to decide when he stops reporting. That is up to a higher power, he said.

Even with some health issues driving him out of the radio booth, he’s still on the daily grind.

Now, he works from home writing stories using timeless principles of the news industry like working sources, double checking facts and never putting himself into the stories he writes.

“I report to people what happened, and I don’t make it sensational,” he said.

Not putting himself in the middle of stories meant Phillips wouldn’t comment on President Donald Trump’s attacks on media during a visit to Charleston, W.Va. Tuesday. But he did say how important news, especially local news, is in holding governments accountable, informing people, and, most importantly, recording history.

“As long as I can do it, I plan to. Unless I get fired,” Phillips said.

That is something that is not likely to happen anytime soon.

Phillips doesn’t like to say it himself, but he was inducted into the Kentucky Hall of Fame in 2011.