Hang in there J-Majors!

-Samantha Allen

As you sit in your class at Park at Ithaca College, biting the end of your Bic pen  and flipping through the newly-issued Missouri Group text "your-career-and-you" book, don't you ever wonder where all of this is going?

As a journalism major, I find at times that I am thoroughly confused. On the one hand, I've got very enthusiastic professors, inside and outside of the classroom, telling me not to worry, that my chosen occupation is important and that I'll go far. And then I've got people from the outside world, forcing down cognac and the bitter truth that maybe the industry is on it's way out, to a very unexpected funeral.

So where am I in all of this? -a very typical Sex and the City, Jessica-Parker sort of question, forgive me. Am I one of those people all dressed in white amidst the dark-clothing mourners, or am I a savior, riding in on my white horse convinced that I'll save journalism?

Today, in a special luncheon-hour presentation made by Dean Dianne Lynch of Park, in honor of the Society of Professional Journalists' (SPJ) JOURNALISM week, that question was answered. And definitely to this student's liking. ;)

Dianne Lynch urged the 15 or so students in attendance that journalism was not on its way out, but rather, enduring a massive change that would yield great opportunity for students in the (duh dum duhhhhh) Future.

Sure, we've heard all of this before, but listen to her reasoning! The market is changing, and we're all just trying to adapt - hence the freak-age by mostly seasoned-journalists of the legacy league.

"The business model [of journalism] is changing, not the industry model," Lynch said.

Think about it. The same thing happened with the introduction of radio broadcasts, and then televised news, and EVEN, with the copier.

Yes, that's my personal example but listen to this: how absurd is it that people actually thought copiers would mean the end of books? Corporate fat-cats who worried about the end of an industry (and that's really all that they are, guys) figured everyone would just start copying text, and no one would by.

But we've seen where radio, TV, and now where the internet is taking us...

To a new audience. 

Our loyal readers, listeners and viewers who have flocked to Internet, to sites like YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook that urge the "it's all about you" mantra, are finally responding. So yes, the format of news has changed, and even its face. We just have to remember to bear our ever-present, and IMMEDIATE, audience in mind.

The point! Us college students have the advantage, we know how to make our NEWS fun, entertaining, interactive and altogether kick-ass. I say, job well done!