What is journalism?

Protected by the United States Constitution, journalism occupies a significant role in society by affecting the daily lives of citizens. Journalism has evolved over time and continues to change as technology progresses and eliminates challenges faced in previous eras. Many people describe journalism in different ways and as Dale Cressman once said, “There is no right answer.” Journalism is gathering and reporting news and any person who has the ability to present and package information can be a journalist.

Gathering the news is a fundamental process essential to journalism. The need for people to gather information through interviews and research will always exist. Interviews allow readers to understand the impacts of issues on individuals. Interviews also allow media consumers to be presented to experts that they might not meet otherwise. Gathering experiences on the first hand consequences and processing expert opinions create a foundation to journalism.

Journalism can be defined on how a producer chooses to present information previously researched. Journalists have a plethora of information available to them and they decide what they will present and how they will present it. The way a media producer uses his or her gate-keeping responsibility determines if something can be called journalism. If the information is packaged in way to inform citizens so they can have a higher quality of life then journalism has occurred. If information is packaged to further an agenda or publicize an events and decisions then advertising or public relations has occurred. Journalism is a calling to serve society and the way information is presented and packaged defines the creation of journalism.

Anyone with a platform can be a journalist. The invention of the printing press enabled information to be distributed to a previously unimaginable of number people. Not everyone with a printing press was a journalist, but journalists needed the printing press to present previously researched information to the public. The same trend continues today as social media technology progresses and grows in popularity. A twitter account is far easier to obtain in our day than a printing press was to obtain in the 18th century, but the principle remains the same. Not everyone with a twitter account is a journalist, but as evidenced by the revolution in Iran twitter accounts can be valuable sources of journalism that inform citizenry and help them make decisions. Anyone with the ability to publish a message can be a journalist.

Journalism

I love journalism. Thusly I will begin to blog on matters pertaining to journalism and it will be awesome. Peace.