PEOPLE SAY JOURNALISM is dying. Newspapers are going away, TV news is a joke and magazines are watching advertising dollars disappear.And yet here you all are. Studying journalism. Your parents must be so excited.
Well, I, for one, don't believe the industry is dying. It's simply changing.
And that makes this the most exciting time in history to be an aspiring journalist. For real.
If you want to read more, click here to read my story about "Why I teach journalism" that is this week's cover story on the Philadelphia Weekly.
10 comments:
I totally agree with the fact that journalism is not dying but indeed is just changing. For me it even goes along with the fact that people think hip hop is dying as well. Even as we discussed in class, no one could truly define journalism. I can't even define it myself. I think that when you define it, you help it die. Journalism cannot "die" if the people do not let it. Just because we may not read as many newspapers as we read Celebrity Gossip Blogs doesn't make the craft of journalism dead. Is it not a way for writers to just inform the people on what they want to hear? Personally I do not always want to hear about the war in Iraq or the Stocks going down. I often prefer why Ashlee Simpson just bashed people or what is going on with Britney Spears. I think that journalism is just broken up into different categories. If not, hopefully I'll just learn more about it in this class.
There was definitely something funny about me walking out of Journalism and Society today and immediately picking this paper up and finding this article. I think I speak for most of your students when I say that it was so awesome to discover a published story in the newspaper by your professor :) So props to Mr. Miller!! Personally, I think society is losing the enthusiasm that once went with picking up a newspaper in the morning with a cup of coffee and learning about the world. Our generation i presently going through a technological evolution. Anyone can see that. Your right. Journalism isn't dying it's in an evolution. We as the next generation of journalists have to be the most creative. It's up to us to find the new vehicles of communication.
I agree with Cara when she stated that we have to be creative and find new new vehicles of communication. I think that the fact that people think journalism is dying, yet students are still going to school for journalism is the reason that it is evolving. Students are going to work harder in an effort to evolve aspects of journalism for the better.
Students are going to work harder?
That's what I like to hear.
- George (the teacher)
I don't agree that journalism is dying. I think that in order to succeed in the field you have to be a lot more multi-talented or a converged journalist like Mr. Miller stated. You have to have knowledge in all areas of journalism even if you don't want to go into that section. I also think it's extremely important that if I want to succeed in journalism I need to know how to do it in an online version.
Although the way Journalism is being received may be changing, I don't believe Journalism itself is dying. The generation now, and the ones coming up are all technologically inclined. When researching a topic or looking up an event that recently happened, students would much rather go online...type in a keyword and get an article on what they're looking for right away. Our society wants things now...people don't want to sit down and read through an entire newspaper. While it may be sad, it is true. So, Journalists have to comply with what the public wants, find a way to get information to the people in a way that they can easily recieve it. As for jobs and funding, perhaps before we can read an article advertisers can put an ad on the page that you have to go through in order to see the news. I know that when I look through the fashion updates on elle.com's magazine I have to click through an ad every 3 photos. This way the advertisers will be guaranteed to have the audience's attn. and the online website will get their advertising money. We just have to be innovative, no one can escape change, and journalism will never die, it just needs to evolve.
In class we've learned about tradition and what automatically comes to mind is that morning newspaper and cup of coffee or chai tea, whichever you prefer. My family thinks I'm a 50 year old trapped in a 19 year old's body. There's just something about having the paper in front of you which makes it so much more personable then letting Google find it for you. I do not think that journalism is dying. Personally, I think that idea is damn near impossible. The public will always want that connection with the world which they cannot hear or see first-hand. I agree that it is evolving. But I also believe that eventually, if print newspapers do die out, that they will come back in a more organized fashion. I think we've had newspapers in our world for far too long to be able to completely distinguish them forever. We just need to figure out how to finance them.
George, this article truely encompasses everything I learned from your class last fall. It's beautifully written and hits the evoltuion of journalism right on the head. It was our topic of conversation last week for my Magazine article Writing class. I'm glad you wrote this article and informed those who didn't know that journalism is here to stay.
Bravo!
George I agree with you. I am a communications major and also believe that the entire industry is just changing. We are starting to enhance and discover new mediums,as well as new ways to use them,that were not possible years ago. I believe Journalism is just undergoing an evolution, so to speak...
That is a badass picture of George Miller!!! haha very inspiring article.
Post a Comment