Good report by 60 Minutes.
However, terminology is important when discussing the status of journalism in America. Journalism isn't dying, it's changing. Trust me. Plenty of people I've talked to are skeptical when I tell them I'm a journalism/mass communication student. In fact, I've given a lot of thought to this subject and questioned studying this major many times. Nevertheless, I've done my homework and have realized that much, nearly all, of this talk about "journalism being a failing business" is exaggerated fluff. IT's simply not true. Journalists can still be successful in the digital revolution.
The word "journalism" is developing a negative connotation. The digital revolution, including the fall of the daily print newspaper and uprise of cheap and inaccurate online "news" sources, is at fault. What so many people don't realize, and at one point I did too, is that there's so much more to journalism than headlines, bylines, and newspaper ink that gets smeared all over your fingers. There's strategic communication, like public relations, marketing, event planning, nonprofit advocacy (what I'm most interested in); creative communication, like documentary writing and production and video game creation; and media research, like determining if viewing large amounts of sexual media makes people more sexually active or more likely to commit sexual crimes (an area of study that is very important.)
In this changing market, journalists have to be well-rounded and flexible. They need to have talents and interests in varying kinds of media and topics. One-trick-ponies are no longer acceptable. Photographers, editors, and cameramen/women are becoming obsolete professions. Nowadays, it's more likely that an employee be given the tasks of those three professions. Being tech-saavy and having strong writing skills, among other things, are key to being successful in the digital revolution. Journalists need to add more weapons to their arsenals and develop the skills to use them.
Fortunately, I'm at a university whose school of journalism teaches this brand of journalism. All of the areas of study that I listed in the second paragraph are, in fact, offered by the SMJC at Iowa. The SMJC offers a wide array of courses that its student can take, from classic depth reporting and writing courses, to graphic design classes, and even a workshop that teaches students how to create an iPhone app. I mean, the SMJC seems to be on top of the "changing times." It's headed in the right direction.
So, please, next time that there's a discussion about newspapers, journalism, or media, make your contribution to the discussion by saying "changing" instead of "dying" (with appropriate verb conjugation) because, frankly, saying "journalism is dead" is dead.
