Every budding journalist would ask this question to himself? In this era of influencers, celeb anchors and people hooked to entertaining prime times, does it really pay off to be a journalist. Is it really a stable career choice anymore?

Digital media is more of a blessings in disguise than a curse for traditional journalism. The news and media industry has a way of gathering facts, piecing them together and presenting to the mass. It has always been the latter part that made difference. If your TV show looks well-presented, or if your newspaper has a magazine or pull out with cogently put news, it will work well. The information bit was expected to be, more or less, accurate.

People read and watch more on Facebook and YouTube than they do on newspapers or TV channels. Your twitter followers matter more than your industry sources or your writing abilities. And camera has become mightier than pen.

But it is a change that journalism can not shy away from. Digital disruption has not only hit the media industry, its is all over the place – transport business, food, grocery or real estate business, you name it.

So every journalist needs to be more of journalist now, not only to eliminate fake news and find the truth, but swim trough blind promotional information and get his truth heard. It won’t be wrong to say that the task of debunking myths have taken a wide new meaning.

Back in 60s and 70s, when TV arrived, it brought similar premonitions. Newspapers are a written piece of evidence and hence requires a very careful approach. TV was a little more casual until the 90s, after which its widespread adoption increased and it became a more serious source of information consumption. It also brought more credibility, for at times you could see the very incidence happening in front of your eyes.

Digital media is not different from TV and newspaper as a form of content, but it’s much faster and agile. You don’t wait for next morning or prime time shows, the news is in your hand all the time, and it arrives as soon as it happens.

Which only requires our traditional journalism machinery to be oiled up and fine tuned to deliver findings like a pizza, hot and fresh in minutes, if required be.

As for us journalists, journalism becomes a way of life. With digital disruption, we have better tools and we may want to make better use of them, like learn how to make small videos, quick interviews, go live and talk to audience or tweet more often. Though journalists like Ravish kumar have shown it is not at all mandatory. Digital disruption can hardly dilute the intent and integrity of strong journalism.

But digital tools give journalists the option to be independent. You could not own a TV channel, but you can own a YouTube channel and work totally for yourself.

It would be a difficult task to set up your own publication (newspaper). But you can own a website and never make it as big as a national daily, but still write on whatever you deem fit and earn well.

You may contribute as a photojournalist to a magazine or a newspaper, but with Instagram more people know you than ever before.

Digital disruption has created a lot of problems for traditional media, but it has also opened a lot of doors for independent journalism. It only needs the responsible and ethical intent of traditional media to be as forceful and effective.

This article is a repost from The Truth One