John Higgins Was A Helping Hand, Providing Guidance, Praise & Advice

“Beneath his tough exterior,” John Higgins “was a gentle soul with a rapier wit who nurtured young reporters and worked at soup kitchens during holidays without fanfare,” B&C’s obituary notes.

The line about nurturing young reporters struck a chord with me. More than any other industry reporter in this business, Higgins has shown me the ropes. His e-mails, with titles like “Don’t believe that” and “CNN vs Fox revenues” and “CNN’s demos” and “[Redacted]’s smoking crack,” provided valuable guidance. Sometimes he’d simply ask: “How’s life?” Other times he’d tell me when I was being spun by a publicist or confused by a complicated story.

Just yesterday, he e-mailed to say congrats about the NYT piece, adding: “I’m way curious how the girlfriend copes with your work habits.” I will miss his messages.