Journalism School May Be The Future Backbone of Democracy

While many saying that journalism is a dying profession, others will argue against this until the end. Students at University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communications and Journalism will especially tell you they don't believe this at all.

This article shares why some think that journalism will strive and is a necessity for our society.

Some students are avoiding journalism majors because of the predicted future of the media. Orion de Nevers, a freshman at USC shared, "Information will just all be basically free, so there's no money to be mae in journalism. As much as I would like to pursue my love and all that, I like food, too. And I just don't want to sacrifice it all."

Many of the students here, not to mention all over the world, have been stared at skeptically when they say they're majoring in journalism. People have told them journalism is dead and there's no money to be made in it, but they remain hopeful and confident.

It's easy to guess where the gloomy predictions are coming from. Recently many newspaper companies have been forced to seek bankruptcy protections and are having to see their productions and let go of a good portion of their staff. This demonstrates why some believe that journalism is on it's last path.

USC costs nearly $55,000 a year with all charges included, which is a lot of money to invest in a major in a profession that's falling rapidly downhill. However, Ernest Wilson, Annenberg's Dean argues that this major is still successful and is linked with good citizenship.

Wilson said, "I am concerned, as the dean, at the costs and debt burdens these students take on, but I'm also concerned about training the next generation of people who are doing to provide the backbone of democracy."

He says that the independent press and availability for anyone to use it helps maintain our country's democracy, that this way people will be provided with more information and that although anyone can be a journalist by using the web now, those with degrees in communications will do better in job searches.

Students at the university also claim that they will find success in this field. They know it is different, but still want to learn the new methods of the media.

A professor at Annenberg, Robert Hernandez put it this way, "These students have signed up for journalism school knowing that's the climate they're facing, and they're not thinking 'gloom and doom'. There's something exciting happening in our industry. These folks want to become a part of that."

With flip cameras, cell phones, blog and vlogs, and social networks, journalism may be changing but it's not dying. The director of journalism at Annenberg shares that journalism is not simply cracking up, but realigning.