"Why would you want to be a journalist? Isn't that a dying profession?"
This is a question I've heard way too many times since I decided I wanted to be a reporter and it's something I know my fellow reporters have heard many times too. It's like it comes with the job title, but that's why I'm here to set the record straight.
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No. Journalism is not dead. It's evolving.
I haven't been a journalist for a long time and I'm not an expert. I am however, studying journalism as a junior in college. I have learned so much within the past three years plus the two years in high school that I spent dedicating my time to the profession.
I've been able to see first hand just how many people dedicate their time to storytelling. People's eyes light up when they talk about their story ideas or the stories they're working on because they get to become an expert on something that really interests them, such as a social issue, and then share it with everyone. Just because people aren't taking journalism classes doesn't mean they aren't journalists either.
Social media sites have paved the way for a new era of journalism. Twitter allows almost anyone to become a journalist. They can tweet about something as it is actually happening and share it with people from all around the world instantly.
I sat at the airport in Germany with my study abroad group this past June. The only reason we knew gay marriage had been legalized across the United States was because we got alerts on our phones from Twitter, CNN, "The Chicago Tribune," "The New York Times," etc. telling us the news.
People assume because newspapers are dwindling out, that it also means journalism as a whole is dying too. Yes, traditional journalism involved a reporter doing their interviews, writing the story and publishing it in a newspaper with their name in a black and white byline, that would later be delivered to readers' doorsteps.
Now in a world where technology and social media dominate, journalism is changing more than any of us could have ever imagined. This traditional journalism is no longer the only type of reporting there is.
There's civilian journalism, broadcast journalism, investigative journalism, etc. There are no limits. People can do anything with journalism.
The "New York Times" recently came out with a new way to tell stories through their Virtual Reality App. The app allows people to become immersed in a story unlike ever before. Their most recent story focused on three children that are refugees in eastern Ukraine, Syria and the south Sudan and how they have come to terms with being driven from their homes by war. It's a great example of how journalism has evolved since I started studying it five years ago and how it will only continue to keep changing in the future.
In fact, Neel Swamy made a great point in an article for the "Huffington Post" about how the journalism industry will only keep growing.
"Journalism is, in my opinion, one of the most booming fields of our modern day. While medicine and science are being overtaken by computers and laser beams, journalism depends on human interaction. Without journalism, our minds would be rendered dull, incapable of producing creative thought," Swamy said.
The truth is, journalism will never die. It's changing, just as every other industry is and will continue to do so. People will always want to hear a good story and will want to know what's going on in the world. Without us journalists, that wouldn't be possible.
So the next time someone tells you they are a journalist or they are studying the profession, do us all a favor and congratulate them instead of asking a dumb question like, "How are you going to get a job in a dying profession?"
It'll save us from banging our heads against a wall.
