from paper to HD flat

I have seven active social networking accounts. I always check and update them every time I surf the net. Despite the budget insufficiency (since I don’t have internet at home), I still check them on at least once a week. I even sacrificed my food and load allowance just to make them up to date.
I learned the basics of computer during my third year high school days; I forced myself to study it because I felt so left behind. I had my first electronic account during the said year, it is my oldest account, and I still have it at present- my friendster account. I saw friendsters’ evolution. From the uniform profile layout to the personalized one, from testimonial to comment to photo comment, from status to shout outs to bulletin boards, from pictures to different photo albums, from true friends to unknown friends to fan accounts to groups; friendster has evolved so much.
This development never stopped at friendster. Facebook, multiply, plurk, twitter and other social networking sites are now dominating the World Wide Web. Not to mention the on-line shopping, dating, school, job availabilities and other activities I never imagined entering the web are now available on line. And journalism did not escape this progress.
Broad sheets can now be read online. News that you failed to watch can be watched again through the internet. It is so accessible that everyone can be informed with just a click away. So much accessible that everyone can publish anything and let millions read it in just a few minutes. In just a snap, an ordinary person is already a journalist.
So what’s the use of studying for four years (some are studying even longer), struggling to improve and reaching the right to be called journalist if anyone can be one?
Well, I want to take it as simple as possible. Indeed with this development, everyone becomes licensed to be called journalist, but being educated about the course makes someone better than the other. It is true that there are better journalists than those who study, but rules are learned at school so this makes them advance than others.
Another thing is that the basic purpose of a journalist is to inform the public about what is happening around them. If an ordinary person meets this, then I will be more than glad to call him or her a journalist. Ethics is far more important than degree title, indeed.
Alteration cannot be erased. As the cliché goes, it is the only permanent thing in this world. Understanding the evolution is the only key to accepting the digital age. Living in 21st century is synonymous to adopting the technology and changes it accompanies. So why worry about those who write online without journalist degree? For as long as truth and just are applied, it is indeed very journalism.