Have you heard? Well, if not: Journalism is supposedly dying.
Yep, that's right kids. In 10 years there will be no more print newspapers and no more journalist.
It's actually such a shame that all these students are wasting thousands of dollars and countless hours towards a dead-end degree.
But wait, how will people get their news? How will they know what's going on locally, regionally, nationally or globally?
Maybe in 10 years when the print dies out, along with the ignorance of the baby boomers, we can all read it about it online.
Journalism dying out?
Is that possible? Not in our lifetime.
Let's break it down with exactly what journalism is. Journalism is defined as "the activity or profession of writing for newspapers, magazines, or news websites or preparing news to be broadcast(ed)."
Therefore, contrary to popular belief, journalism is not dead nor dying. In fact, it's doing quite well and it is not limited to just the printed newspapers.
As a journalism major, I find it extremely ignorant of people to assume that it is a dying business.
Don't get me wrong, I know that print media is not lasting and is declining at a rapid speed. But I also know that with everything in life, its just evolving, technologically.
According to Douglas McLennan and Jack Miles from the Washington Post, "In the U.S., weekday print circulation has shrunk from a high of nearly 60 million in 1994..... to 35 million" in 2018. While these declines are a clear representation for the future of print, people forget to take into account the fact that people still receive their news.
And although it might not be from the paperboy riding down the street on his bike every morning, throwing it on your doorstep, its still being reported and it's still being read. The Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times all have over a million digital subscribers and their numbers increase every year.
Thus, journalism is not dying out.
There is a common misconception that journalism means you are writing for a newspaper and even though some do, they do so much more.
There is a whole world of opportunities that bypasses the small advice column in The Gainesville Sun.
Journalism is forever going to be alive as long as there is news to report. Reliable news is important and necessary now, more than ever before. Thus, to all the journalism majors out there, don't listen to the ignorance of people telling you that your field of study is dying because, besides that fact that they're entirely wrong, some people study fossils. Those are actually dead and the paleontologist seems to be doing just fine.
