Whenever I told people that I was interested in studying communications and broadcast journalism, I was always met with confused looks followed by the statement “isn’t that a dying field?” It is true that many well-known forms of professional journalism have fallen on hard times, but they aren’t dying. It is just a transitional period.

This sort of transition has actually happened before. General-interest magazines like Life once dominated the market, but when television came along, these formats faded due to the new medium that did the job better. However, magazines themselves have managed to survive by living off of niche audiences. They just had to evolve to adapt to the new environment.

Of course, when people talk about the fall of traditional journalism, social media is frequently mentioned. Social media has created what is known as “amateur journalism.”

Despite its popularity, it isn’t able to provide the reliable sources and information that traditional journalism is known for. Even still, social media cannot be ignored and it’s good to see most news outlets focus a lot of time and resources into social media to adapt to the times.

In an era where technology changes so rapidly, it’s easy to write off traditional forms of journalism as dead. However, it’s just an evolutionary process in how to best communicate news and information to people. No matter what medium is being used — print, digital or something different in the future — the core principles of traditional journalism will stay intact.

Kevin Vallene, Redmond