Journalism today is much different from what it was not too long ago. I would say that journalism used to be defined as a hired writer writing a news article or report for a printed publication. The old definition could have also applied to TV news, but I feel as if it mostly applied to newspapers. Things have definitely changed over the years though because the definition is so much broader now than it was back then and it encompasses so much more.
I would now define journalism as someone who reports on the news and spreads it to others. This is done professionally, but it may not be someone's profession. This means that it could simply be a person with a blog who reports on the news. They may not be getting paid, but they are still being professional and reliable. I think a journalist nowadays is any person who reports the news while still following a journalistic code of ethics.
I think the best part of this is that there are so many different ways for people to do this. They can be a blogger, use Twitter, have a YouTube channel, write for an online newspaper/magazine, write for a print newspaper/magazine, be part of a TV news station, or so many other options. Also, anyone can do this. You can be a professional who's been doing it for years, you can be just starting out, or you could still be a student. As long as you have professional and reliable reporting, I think anyone can do it if they want to.
I think that we've been able to get to this point mainly because of the Internet. People have realized that they can reach out to others through the web and social media, and it's working. Anyone can start their own website or blog and grow it into something huge. You don't have to wait to be hired by a newspaper anymore. You can start working for yourself. On the one hand, this is kind of scary because it's taking away from the newspaper industry, but at the same time it's reassuring to know that I can make it on my own if I put in the effort.
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