Well-meaning person: "So, what do you plan to study in college? What do you want to go into?"
Me: "Journalism."
Well-meaning person: "Oh...you know that newspapers are dying out, right?"/"Do you think you'll be able to get a job?"/"I hear it's very competitive, doesn't that worry you?"
Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence.
I don't mind people asking me what my career plans are - it's just one of those get-to-know-you questions that you get asked in this stage of life, along with what high school you went to, how many siblings you have, and how you're liking Israel. It's a great conversation starter...except when the conversation turns into attempts to shoot down my dream of doing what I love and what I'm good at and actually getting paid for it.
I get that the face of journalism is changing. I'm aware that most people get their news online and that newspaper subsciptions are down. I know that reporters who have worked at the same publications for decades are being laid off.
Call me naive, but I don't think that journalism is going anywhere.
I saw an interview on CNN recently with Herman Cain who, after bashing another potential candidate's immigration policy and plugging his own credentials, complained to Wolf Blitzer that, "with all due respect," the media has been unfair in covering his campaign (read: his straw poll win wasn't met with sufficient fanfare).
I find it so ironic that politicians condemn "the media" for skewing their intentions and misinforming the public. It seems like they're throwing a tantrum in the hopes of garnering more press for themselves, and they just don't want to admit how reliant they are on the attention.
There will never be a time when honest reporting is extinct. There will always be a need for people who will hold up a mirror to society and make presidents and pedestrians alike own up to their words and actions.
Even though the format is evolving, the pen/news ticker/Wall Street Journal app will always be mightier than the sword.
