February, being black history month, led me to think about morals. Mine and other people's too. What do we believe in? What would we surrender ourselves for? What makes us feel so strongly in agreement of or in opposition of something; anything? Consider Rosa Parks, the woman who refused to move to the back of the bus.
As advancements in technology and free online subscriptions threaten the future of the journalism business model, it falls upon the journalists of today and their eager students to face the greatest challenges to journalists in decades, but also to seize the most inspiring opportunities in the history of journalism. While it is true that in the modern technological world newspapers are struggling to stay afloat, it is also true that any business that is unwilling or unable to adapt to its changing environment is destined to fail. Cassettes were replaced by CDs that were replaced by digital music. Video cassettes were replaced by DVDs and the film in the projection booth is rapidly being replaced by digital hard drives, but Sony Records is still producing music, Disney is still making children laugh and Universal is still contending for Academy Awards. There is, to say the very least, a lesson to be learned here. Technology only changes the venues of publication and communication, it does not stop them. There will always be a loud demand for quality journalism, because without it our democratic society cannot fully function.
Amanda Ratzel: ""Teachers who don't use the book to teach." Rachel Pfeffer: "Indecisive people." Paul Schneller: "The food here is really expensive." Edward Cleaves: "Unemployment and education."
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