JOURNALISM IN A RAPIDLY CHANGING WORLD.

Eniola Awolesi.

“Before your lips can speak, journalism will make your body shriek” – Eniola Awolesi.

Journalism, since it’s inception, which is as old as earth and man, has played and is still playing a vital role in our world. Everyone who has put pen to paper or mouth to microphone about journalism paints it as a “profession that involves the production and distribution of reports”.

Journalism is a tool that is shaping the world significantly; a wizardry that wins minds; the pain of the pauperized; a field of study we can’t do without regardless of our level of exposure; it is our democracy and its casualties; it is the magic that makes people; the tears of the traumatized; a substance that solidifies like sinews; the hope of the powerless; the backbone of the people. Journalism is a plethora of things nonetheless, none of these things can define it as accurately as “the activity of gathering, assessing, creating and presenting news and information to provide people with verified information using a systematic process – a discipline of verification – not just to find the facts, but also, the truth about the facts” – American Press Institute.

What then is the purpose of journalism? The purpose of journalism is truth. It is to provide citizens with accurate information after a thorough research. It is to report events that impact lives and help them make the best decisions concerning their lives, communities and government.

Journalism covers multifarious aspects of our societies and appeals to all kinds of audiences ranging from politics, to crime, to business, to arts and sports, to education. The heart and soul of it is investigative journalism. The different kinds of journalism have diverse requirements for reporting events and investigative journalism has proven to be the most taxing as it requires knowledge, patience, recalcitrance, and money.

The world of journalism is vast and has rapidly evolved from its primitive state to the sophistication it possesses today. Its medium of delivery has shifted from print(newspaper), to broadcast(television and radio), to its most viable form, new media which is digital (blogs, e-mails, and social media like Twitter) and this has made it possible for every person in every area of life to access information.

Sadly, journalism is underrated in our changing world today. No one realizes – and probably never did – its dexterity anymore. It is now being handled by mischief makers and amateurs who wouldn’t want to delve into the very heart of investigative journalism. Journalism in our world today has lost its most important virtue; truth and it has now become a tool for mass destruction through gross misinformation, fake news, and unverified reports which result in unimaginable fatalities, instead of an instrument for restoring normalcy and breeding peace that it should be.

The world is constantly evolving, and journalism, her father, is changing with her faster than the eye can blink and without truth to keep it alive, without good intentions and professional writing skills, journalism will slowly wither. But with good intentions, it will continue to exist and stand the test of time because our everyday lives revolve around it. But then, what is Achilles without its golden heel? What will journalism be without its truth?