Journalism is not Doomed

David Leigh’s article “Are Reporter’s Doomed”, seemed to me to be far too apocalyptic to reflect reality. Is reporting doomed? No. Is reporting evolving to accommodate a new society and new ways of sharing information? Yes. Kathleen Parker from the Washington Post writes in her article ”Journalism will Survive Media’s Evolution” that journalism, and thus journalists, will not die- they will simply have to evolve to work in the new media, or work in a different field. While the mainstream media is losing its readers in lieu of the internet, due to the interactivity and ease of the medium, the media outlets and journalists need to begin thinking out of the box, and figure out ways to adapt to the new ways of getting news to the consumers.

It is also important to note that perhaps many reporters are feeling nervous in the face of the average person having just as much credibility online as they do. While rules and regulations are imposed on the newsmaker, information being pressed through a maze of legal regulations and editorial review, bloggers on the internet are not bound by these rules, being able to write anything they feel is newsworthy, without the restrictions of a reporter working for a privately owned news outlet. Due to this, damning information about public figures and events are much harder to squash- but also harder to ascertain it’s veracity.

Reporting is not dead, and Journalists are not doomed- they just need to evolve to fit in with the new media, and not keep praying about the new media suddenly changing to accommodate them.