Sophomore journalism major
A couple weeks ago, I was at the Maryland Book Exchange and noticed a shelf full of T-shirts for nearly every major offered at this university. I started looking through them, and to my surprise, I could not find a single one for the journalism school. When I asked the cashier where the journalism shirts were, he laughed and replied, “People still major in that?”
In recent years, I have noticed journalism’s decreasing desirability as a major and profession as students gravitate toward alternative majors. But this is a frightening trend, and one that affects everyone.
The future of journalism isn’t only important to people like me — aspiring journalists out there desperately searching for a job. It is important to everyone, maybe more so than we realize.
We should all be concerned with having access to good, reliable news, because it is a pivotal part of how our society functions. The press is what allows our democracy to work, by giving us a source for information about current issues and politics, so we can make educated decisions when we vote.
Even if you don’t care about current events, the news is still going to have an effect on your life. It is how we find out when a massive event, like a terrorist attack, happens; it is how we know who won best artist at the Video Music Awards or what football team won the game last Sunday. It is what people talk about; it is what connects us around the world, across the nation and here on the campus.
The job market for journalists is shrinking at an unprecedented rate in an already unstable economy. Newspapers are consolidating and laying off staff members to conserve profits that are scarce in this digital age. Now that news can be found online for free, and anyone with a smartphone or Twitter can be a reporter, why pay a professional?
Honestly, the job is too important not to.
What separates professional journalists from citizen journalists is their obligation to follow codes of ethics that drive them to remain objective, be accurate and seek multiple perspectives for every story. This is essential for readers to see the full and unbiased truth and develop their own opinions about the issues — free from persuasion.
Maybe I’m biased because I am a journalism major — and one who hopes to have a job in the future — but the reason I chose to pursue this not-necessarily-prosperous field is because I believe in it.
On a recent trip to the Newseum in Washington, I was reminded of just how essential journalism is to our society. Walking through a museum dedicated entirely to the news was like walking through a record of history leading up to the present moment. For every critical event in the world, reporters have been there to capture it with pictures and words and bring the story to the public. Journalists can give voice to the powerless, uncover hidden truths and bring to light unknown issues.
Although journalism may seem like a dying industry now, I don’t think it will ever go away completely. People would be lost without a trustworthy source of news, and good journalism will never go out of style. So fellow journalists, hang in there — the world still needs us.
Madeleine List is a sophomore journalism major. She can be reached at list@umdbk.com.
