In the past two hundred and fifty years journalism has gone from being a basic and controlled form of transmitting information to the glorious and complex network of voices, images and words that it is today. From the first publisher ending up in jail after his newspaper was released, to the freedom of the press being the only job protected by law. From newspapers taking 20 grueling hours of hard and tedious work to produce mere pages, to thousands upon thousands of copies being produced each and every day in every city in America. Journalism has come a long way.
The start of journalism and news was lanterns in windows or callers in streets but now our lanterns and callers can be in our pockets or briefcase in the form of; black berry, blue tooth, droid, android, ipad, ipod, touch and nano, laptop, nook, notebook, the list goes on. Using these devices we have 24 hour access to news and current events.To some this may seem extravagant or even ridiculous but as the technology developed so did the publics desire to stay informed and up to date, or more accurately up to the minute. We as a people have always wanted the truth and we do our best to get it. The first amendment protects the press so that we can get more truth and less filters. This in turn provides us with the option to form our own opinions and make decisions.
Transforming journalism was never a single idea or choice, it was a collection of ideas and personal decisions that pushed this movement into the direction that it has gone. To say that journalism evolved is naive and incorrect. Using the past tense implies that it no longer evolves but it has been for some time now and most likely will continue as long as the public is involved. The human disposition to always want more has helped fuel this snow ball effect on journalism. First it was only spoken and then gradually written down, soon laws came into effect to protect the news. Soon the public wanted to decide their own opinions and objective writing was more popular. Cameras, radios, televisions, and telephones each brought a new wave of progress and it will only continue. Journalism has come a long way but we still have a long way to go.
