This post was updated Nov. 18 at 8:46 p.m.
Is journalism a dying industry?
Considering that I am applying to pursue a master’s in journalism, I sure hope not.
But for the last decade, there has been talk of journalism beginning to fade out as a profession. Many say that people increasingly rely on social media platforms for their news, and that artificial intelligence will soon be able to draft a column faster and more effectively than a reporter.
Before starting my college career, I was somewhat skeptical of these claims, but I could have been persuaded that they were true. However, after four years of working for the Daily Bruin as a student journalist, I know that journalism is not a lost craft.
In fact, it’s more important than ever.
Journalists are committed to maintaining a high degree of intellectual curiosity and personal drive to answer complex questions about the world around us and share that truth with others.
Journalists seek to achieve this objective through digestible means. They break barriers to understanding complex and multifaceted issues that impact society, increasing the prevalence of shared knowledge that is equitable and accessible. For example, reporters believe that even if someone doesn’t have an extensive environmental science background, they can still understand the effects of climate change.
Avik Belenje – a second-year applied mathematics and computer science student – agreed.
“People don’t really know what they know about the world until it is told to them,” he said.
Journalists also hold those in power accountable. By sharing their findings with the world, they call upon people to make and enforce change. Reporters ensure that certain questions aren’t avoided and discoveries are not withheld.
Informing the public and sharing relevant information is a foundational pillar of democracy. In a fast-paced and ever-changing world, we need people who will foster civic engagement, ask questions, challenge and debate.
“I think the relationship of people in power to journalism is always complicated because in some ways, their lives are easier if journalism is less present,” said Jim Newton, a lecturer in public policy and communication studies. “The very nature of journalism and its relationship to people in power is that it seeks to hold them accountable.”
Journalists have the tools, dedication and drive to ensure such critical objectives are achieved. By highlighting systemic problems and injustices, journalists act as social catalysts.
“I believe journalists allow for transparency, and I think that being able to spread awareness and information to people is very important,” said Norah Lee, a third-year geography student.
Reporters and media outlets all throughout history have worked to raise public awareness and inspire collective action.
Initially reported by the New York Times and The New Yorker in 2017, journalists exposed Harvey Weinstein’s widespread sexual misconduct, launching the global #MeToo movement against sexual harassment and assault.
Looking back farther, in the late 1880s, Nellie Bly exposed the brutal conditions in mental health asylums by going undercover as a patient in a New York City asylum. Through sharing her findings, she raised awareness about mental health treatment and inspired institutional reform. Her actions also revolutionized a new age of investigative journalism.
This is especially true in the case of student journalism. Recently, there have been attacks on several universities’ student media platforms, resulting in temporary closures and the firing or loss of staff – some affected outlets include the Daily Trojan, the Indiana Daily Student and the Stanford Daily.
Whether it be that student journalists are facing university administration censorship, government censorship or funding cuts, students on a college campus have a right to receive transparent and credible information that comes separate from the university in the form of a student newspaper.
Student media outlets on campus provide a peer-to-peer voice that other students can actually rely on, Lee said.
The Stanford Daily is even involved in a current lawsuit against the secretary of state and secretary of homeland security to protect the right of free speech in student media outlets.
The Daily Bruin, like so many others, is a student newspaper composed of hundreds of ambitious and dedicated journalists who have taken it upon themselves to do what we do best: speak up.
Thus, I encourage every member of the UCLA community to pick up a copy of the paper as they walk to class tomorrow.
“Journalists are the fulcrum of a democratic society,” said Newton, also a veteran journalist with 25 years of experience at the LA Times and the founder and editor-in-chief of the UCLA Blueprint Magazine.
“People cannot participate meaningfully in their society if they can’t make informed decisions.”
Journalism is power. It is essential to the democracy, trust and transparency of a nation.
Journalism is compassion. It provides those who may not otherwise have one with a voice to share their story.
Journalism isn’t dying – it’s keeping the world alive.
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