Journalism is not a Rewarding Career and Many More People Need to Know that

Zoie Lambert

zl963419@ohio.edu

Only the strong survive is a prase many people hear when they are going into a taxing field. Doctors, lawyers, fire officers, even teachers have all heard this. I have heard this about journalism.  However, the difference between these professions and journalism is that journalists rarely are the good guys in this situation. 

Journalists are constantly on the verge of being let go not because of their merit but as a result of money. They sometimes can not write the stories they want to because newsrooms are concerned about their bottom line. Additionally, journalists struggle with the truth and its consequences, not only what those consequences mean for the public and important stakeholders, but their conscience. They constantly have to deny their desires, judgments, and belief for something that may never benefit them. Journalist sacrifices everything for the truth and is never given enough credit for it. 

I blame the way society has evolved for the distrust and apathy towards journalism. Initially, newsrooms and broadcast television were the sources for everything. Now, people can't take a breath before a notification pops up knowinf, what politician is in hot water. People can now bypass us and go straight to the source for information. We started to see this in the 2008 election when Obama used emails, YouTube, and Facebook to talk to people about why he wanted to become POTUS. They don't even bother to look at journalist reporting if they see the source especially if it is saying everything they want to hear. What people don't understand is our balanced fair reporting will give you the truth, which does not consist of one side but all, because the truth is complex.

https://www.technologyreview.com/2018/08/22/14064

The Museum of Hoaxes

3/us-election-campaign-technology-from-2008-to-2018-and-beyond/

However, sometimes I don't believe the strong survive I think the privileged do. 

In 1981, Janet Cooke, writer of "Jimmy's World", for which she won a Pulitzer but fabricated her story and had to return her prize and voice. No one would hire her for writing, but Brian Williams former NBC Nightly News anchor lied about being under fire in an Iraq helicopter in 2003 still gets to work at a major news network MSNBC after he lied. The difference between these two is not time because if Cooke fabricated "Jimmy's World" now she would never receive the same privileges Willams has because she is a black woman and he is a white man. 

https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2017/05/01/492982066/the-modern-newsroom-is-stuck-behind-the-gender-and-color-line