What is Journalism?

I have always loved to write and to tell stories and I know that that will be my job one day. Being a journalist is what I have wanted for years. 

When someone asks me what I am taking in school, I tell them Journalism.

I usually get a smile, a nod, and a, “good for you.” Followed by something along the lines of, “So what will you do with that? So you want to be on the news.” But Journalism is much more than just being on the news. It is about evolving. It is social media. It is technology. It is telling the truth. It is current.

To me, Journalism is right now; it is getting word out immediately. Where radio and newspaper used to be go-to news outlets, we now have sites like Twitter taking their places.

I don’t know everything about journalism and I can’t come up with a concrete definition of it either. Just because I'm a Journalism major, it doesn’t mean that I have things figured out and know what area of Journalism I want to work in. I'm hoping that by the end of the school year I can define Journalism with absolute certainty and that is why I am in school for it. But right now, I am in school to learn and I will take in as much as I possibly can. 

Maybe I want to write for the web, maybe I want to freelance, maybe I want to be a foreign correspondent, and maybe I want to be an on-camera news reporter. I don't know yet. And that's fine with me. What I know is, I love telling stories and I want to be the one that tells a town, a city, a country, or the world something of significance to them.

What Crossed My Mind When I Think About What Journalism:

1) I hope people stop telling me that if I become a journalist, I will starve.

2) Just because a lot of people don’t buy a daily newspaper, it doesn’t mean that journalists won’t have a job. Journalism is going nowhere.

3) I get why people don’t buy the newspaper. Newsprint is messy. I mean, all you have to do it pick one up and you’re a mess.

4) Who knew defining Journalism would be this difficult.

5) Even though I didn’t come up with a clear definition of Journalism, I know there is nothing else I am supposed to do with my life than be a part of it.