What is your opinion on the current state of journalism in the world today? Do you see it as a growing or dying industry? #JO304 #Journalism
— Morgan Cheung (@mrcheungbostonu) May 1, 2018
Is journalism a dying practice? Is it a profession that is plateauing and staying the same? Or, is it a career that is continuing to grow and expand? While many believe that the profession of journalism is dying, cases show that it is in fact evolving. According to Dan Gillmor of The Economist, "Journalism is evolving from a lecture to a conversation, because the tools of media creations are in everyone's hands and because journalists are gaining from thinking of their craft in that way."
If that is the case, then why does journalism still remain under-respected with a poor reputation? Ever since coming to Boston University to pursue my degree in journalism, people have asked me, "How are you going to find a job with a degree like that?" This infers that job prospects are decreasing and my chances to get hired are dwindling. Perhaps this is because of the decline of the newspapers and magazines that result from lesser demand.
Journalism Professor John Carroll of Boston University refutes this question by explaining that there are countless jobs and opportunities for the laborious and hard-working bunch. He says, “There are tremendous jobs out there both in traditional media and the digital world—unlimited possibilities in the digital world… I think that this idea of 'journalism is dead' is significantly misguided. There are many media organizations out there that have a demand and a need for great journalists.”
We have seen the evolution of journalism go from print to radio and to television—now, the Internet and social media have taken the scene. While Professor Carroll explained that traditional methods of journalism, like newspapers and magazines, have been declining, journalism via social media continues to rise with the introduction of platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat.
Professor Christopher B. Daly of Boston University explains that social media is both the “creator and destroyer” of journalism. “Social media helps with news gathering,” notes Daly. “Journalists are now able to utilize distributed reporting across social media to gather news, including citizen-journalism. Also, social media is a way to publicize stories and reach out towards wider audiences that cannot be reached without the Internet. But, it has contributed towards the reduction of other platforms for journalism because it is so useful and convenient.”Boston University Professor Christopher B. Daly elaborates on social media's impact on journalism. Professor Daly is a veteran journalist and journalism professor at Boston University.
It is clear that social media shaped journalism in an unfamiliar manner; it put other divisions of journalism in a declining state while developing new avenues for people to receive up to date information at an instant.
“We live in a day and age where science and technology impact journalism to a great degree,” says Boston University sophomore Jordan Kimmel (COM ’20). “In this age of social media, news needs to be spread and technology allows for news to be spread faster than ever before.”
With our current political climate and breaking news around the world, journalism has never been more important and social media is only beginning to change the way we produce and perceive the news. “Exhilarating” and “fabulous”: these are all words that Professors Carroll and Daly used to describe the current state of journalism.
“What an important time it is to be a journalist,” says Kimmel. “In our society, the work is now more mportant than ever and the tools are better than ever. A lot of people think journalism is a dying profession… it’s really important for journalists to get out there and use these new tools to produce great content so that the practice doesn’t die.”
For those who think that journalism is slowly coming to an end, just know that it is only beginning to grow.
This is what you call a word-cloud. These are all the words that my Journalism 304 class came up to describe "What a(n) ____ time to be a journalist." The interviewees above described this time as "exhilarating", "fabulous" and "important".
