Some living species of sharks and turtles are older than the dinosaurs. They have survived across the eras because, more then once, they adapted to the planet’s changing environment. Darwin’s evolutionary theories could never before illustrate so well the scenario in today’s journalism and mass media.Journalism’s golden rule of “inform, entertain and educate” have been carried out by journalists, who bring a printed, broadcasted and online world to people’s lives. In fact, there is definitely no doubt that the world would be a different place without mass media journalism. However, does it also count for journalists? Are these professionals as necessary as journalism itself?
After the surge and popularisation of new media, to have a personal blog is easy and doesn’t require special abilities. Anybody can now share information and opinions on the internet. This has generated a lot of debate, especially in journalistic circles. Although the argument is basically centred on the reliability of such sources, there have been concerns on the future of journalism - especially as a profession.
Many people have argued that journalism is only the work produced by journalists, the ones who have skills, ethics and a diploma to do this. However, strictly defining journalism only as what is produced by journalists has become, in fact, rather limiting and elitist. It doesn’t mean that any piece of “citizen journalism”, posted by somebody on the internet, is going to be reliable, readable and recommended – in the same way some professional texts published by journalists are not. The joy of this new trend, though, lays in an improvement of democracy - a once passive audience can now write news stories and features.
Nevertheless, this doesn’t mean that traditional journalism is condemned to death. It means that it is evolving, that people more than ever need journalism, but in a more interactive way. Journalists shouldn’t fear this new tendency brought by technology and framed by people’s needs. Actually, what has always made journalism possible is the sharing of information. If new ways of doing this are emerging, it is because the old model is no longer satisfying. Adaptation is not the secret of survival only in the animal kingdom. Journalists, rather than complain about and criticise the wave of citizen journalism, should show why their work is more valuable. The ones who preach from ivory towers, on their special gift as journalists, must be aware that they may only be guaranteeing a nice place in the media’s Jurassic park.
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