I came to Bradley to study journalism and hopefully, one day, I will leave this campus as a journalist.
It may not be the best time to get into the newspaper industry, but the truth is, not many professions are filled with openings.
It’s not like students outside the communications department are cashing in their degrees for dollars. The fact of the matter is that it is a bad time to graduate and almost everyone will struggle to find jobs.
Don’t worry, this isn’t another column about how bad the job market is, it’s about sticking with your dream job.
For me, that’s being a journalist.
Early this year I wrote a column pointing out some flaws of the university.
After catching some heat from the administration, I began to feel a little disappointed in myself, feeling as though maybe I took advantage of having the opportunity to print a column in the newspaper.
However, last week I received an award for that same column, giving me enough journalistic pride to write this.
As journalists, it is our job to inform the public of what may or may not be going well in the world.
People don’t always have time to attend weekly council meetings or go see their favorite sports team play, so they depend on the media to supply them with information.
Journalism isn’t going away.
I realize newspapers may be on the decline but the citizen desire for news hasn’t gone anywhere.
Think about it. Right now the economy is going downhill. People are without jobs and looking to rebound, and where do they turn?
Newspapers, TV, magazines or any other media source, most of which are run by journalists.
Just because people don’t subscribe to papers such as the Chicago Tribune as much as they used to doesn’t mean they don’t visit the paper’s Web site to catch up on news.
CNN, ESPN, The New York Times, Fox News and BBC all are within the top-50 most visited Web sites according to Alexa, a Web information company.
The Internet has taken journalism to another level.
With the influx of multimedia in the industry, journalism now has the ability to become a package rather than just words on paper or a computer screen.
We can now add a video to a story, attach a photo album or link readers to other relatable information.
And the best part is, these stories can be updated at any time without having to wait for the next issue of the paper to come out.
The decline of journalism’s main source, newspapers, may have actually helped journalism improve itself.
In the midst of hearing “journalism is dying” everywhere I go, I think to myself that its possibilities are just being reached.
Alex Mayster is a junior journalism major from Palatine. He is the Scout sports editor.
Direct questions, comments and other responses to amayster@mail.bradley.edu
