What is journalism?

We've read hundreds of pages this semester on journalism — its history, its successes, its failures and its future. As communicators and as citizens, it is essential that we understand and appreciate this profession and the rights and responsibilities it carries like no other thanks to the First Amendment.

After all the readings and discussions over the semester, I've found little nuggets here and there that I know I will take from the class well into the future. Perhaps one sentence that I think best describes journalism appears early in The Elements of Journalism by Kovach and Rosenstiel. The purpose of journalism, they wrote, "is defined not by technology, nor by journalists or the techniques they employ, but by something more basic: the function news plays in the lives of people."

As naive as it may sound to some or as pretentious as it may sound to others, I think journalism truly is a unique profession. It is a way to serve our communities and our society as a whole that no other profession, industry, business or whatever term one wants to use can. It helps create an informed citizenry so our democracy can function properly. It shines a light on injustices and wrongdoing as well as on good deeds and generosity. It can investigate and educate. It can be a voice on our behalf when we think no one hears us.

Certainly it is not without its problems. Its highs and lows over the decades are documented. It has been used by some as a tool to further an agenda and by others as a cover to engage in unethical or illegal practices. And now it faces another era of change as it adapts to technologies that are shaping it in ways we may not be able to foresee fully.

If as news organizations transform structurally and philosophically, they keep in mind Kovach and Rosenstiel's words — that journalists' ultimate loyalty is to their readers and viewers, and that the role journalism can play in their lives should be its guiding principle — then the decisions they make will be the right ones, even if it takes a while for them to succeed.