Many in Gen Z want to be an influencer, whether they want to or not, rookie journalists have to be. Is that a good thing?

by Boone Kilpatrick

When I was eight years old, I dressed up as a journalist for Halloween. I had long forgotten about this serendipitous costume until my mother sent me pictures of it a few days ago.

I wore a tan trench coat, a sloppily tucked in white button down, poorly fitting slacks, glasses, and a fedora with a blue jay feather and a pad of paper lodged in the band. In 2013 this is what I thought of Journalism.

I have long realized that the days of grisled reporters and their 5 o’clock shadows that I so admired as a boy, are long gone. 

Journalists can no longer afford to hide behind an armor of faceless integrity. In a world where the audience has the choice, they will pick what is approachable, something so often lacking integrity, evidenced by the rise of misinformation by amateur journalists on social media. 

Audiences no longer trust what they can’t see and interact with, and journalism has been forced to adapt. It is no longer enough to be fast, accurate and enterprising. You must be liked.

According to Pew, a large majority of journalists think that social media is bad for journalism itself. But is it bad for journalism’s mission?

Yes, today anyone can hit play and be a journalist. But we live in the most informed time in history. A self selecting audience with the widest power of choice, has clearly accomplished journalism’s core aims: foster an informed public. 

But with every post, how much closer do we drift towards propagandists, waging a war of image so as to better cut through the noise. A journalist didn’t need to be liked in 1940, so long as they were right, and held those in power accountable.

Today, anyone with a phone can be a journalist, and perhaps that is a good thing. Trust comes from those who identify with the common man, diligence is exhibited by the bravery of capturing the story as an untrained civilian.

But the question must be asked and answered: what do we lose when a journalist becomes an influencer? The old adage goes “a journalist should never be the story.” but that is what social media asks for, a story, your story.

Social media journalism demands a presence and an image that needs to be honed and crafted. There was a nobility to a job in which someone could command so much attention, and never have anyone care to know their name.

To me, at eight years old, that was the mark of a man I looked up to and wanted to be like. I wonder if today’s eight year olds revere us in the same way?