One of the incredibly encouraging things that I learned in journalism school, that really stuck in my brain when broaching the subject of the future of journalism is: That journalism is not on the way out; it is in transition to becoming something better than it ever has been before. The old watch dog is not decrepit and failing, it has been rejuvenated back into the protector of the individual as well as the masses that we all as journalists have sworn to uphold and protect from the beginning. That regardless of the threat to our own life and limb, we cannot back away from the truth; journalism is in a journalist blood not in his credentials. That the old school and new school faction of journalism should not compete with each other, but combine together as one in order to form a global coalition of the protectors of free will and free speech, that no government or dictator can ever repress again.
The ideals of the modern-day social media journalists have been seen in the uprisings of the "Arab Spring" and found not wanting, but empowering to even the least internet literate. The blogs and forums of our worldwide web have encouraged democratic debate not partisan division as so many of social hysteria's mentors have implied.
Social media journalists are not the demons of the new age of journalism even though there are legions of them, but the followers of time-tested journalistic ideals and practices.
Journalists have been ensuring that even though justice might not be done for all, at least it can be viewed or read about by all who are concerned about the integrity of its outcome. Putting the needs of the many before the greed and selfishness of the few has been an unspoken rule for centuries in journalism that existed even before the printing press caused so much controversy as it created the dawn of mass media.
We as social media journalists need to also understand that we are the present pioneers of a new dawn in journalistic history. We should also take great pride and solace in the knowledge and belief that we shall be here forever in the hearts, minds, and spirits of everyday people with the same journalistic ideals and expectations of social change, and the betterment of society, that have always seemed to prevail in journalism regardless of the financial and political corruptions; that have attempted to taint these ideals to further their own agendas. Social Media journalists shall remain in spirit on the World Wide Web for as long as the spoken and written word continues to exist.
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