Eric Freehling

Eric Freehling began his career in journalism in the early 1980s at the Kittanning Leader-Times, where his coworkers considered him high-tech because he knew how to work the cutting-edge machine that replaced the reporters’ typewriters.

“When I started, the most innovative thing was a video display terminal,” Freehling said. “It wasn’t a computer.”

Fast forward 43 years, and Freehling is a TikTok star who posts news items on social media.

“The whole industry has changed,” he said. “Now, I’m ending at a paper that has Twitter, podcasts and videos on the internet.”

Freehling retired Friday after 11 years at the Butler Eagle, first as Focus editor, which was later retitled Community editor.