What is Journalism?who needs it?will it survive?

As the rise of the digital era is starting to fuel the fears about the future of the printed word, many doubt the survival of journalism itself. Even if the press’s future is uncertain, journalism’s can not possibly be.
Those who actually believe that a world without journalism can exist do not understand the meaning of the word itself. The highest social function of journalism is the gathering of factual events and making them available to the public. This is the basis of any democratic society. It is through the information given through journalism that each individual can create his understanding of the facts surrounding him.
Still this is not a definition of journalism for it cannot be fixed and labeled by words. It changes, like a chameleon, according to how people perceive it. It can be a job, a\n obsession, a business or the highest ideal of all. It is for this that the only way of defining journalism is by doing it.
Contrary to popular belief the new technology does not challenge journalism in itself. It actually helps it. Producing journalism has become incredibly simple. Posting a blog or broadcasting a video on YouTube are all forms of journalism.
Certainly the accuracy and credibility of the news is undermined by the advent of user generated content. Anyhow this should not put in doubt the importance of journalism itself. Journalism matters and it should matter to everyone, since, at times our only mean of contact with the world.
Westminster University Professor Hugh Barnes once said: “you wouldn’t want to live in a world without journalism”. For living in a world without information is the
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same as living in a dark hole your entire life. Luckily, the curiosity and the will to communicate are predominant characteristics in mankind and as long that there will be information there will be journalism to report it.