As society becomes driven through the forms of technology, more people are accessing their news through online forms. The ideas of print newspapers in the traditional sense and news broadcasts are gone. 

The majority of avid news watchers are above the age of 50 and identify as Baby Boomers, a dying generation. Millenials are getting their news from the ease of their smartphones, making the reporters on Channel 6 obsolete. 

This has led to drastic measures being taken in the media.

Following the news of layoffs within three leading news organizations- Buzzfeed, Huffington Post, and Vice- has a direct correlation with this loss of old age journalism. As subscriptions decline, these companies are scaling down.

It’s also important to note the criticism that these outlets are receiving. Donald Trump has come out with numerous statements on Twitter regarding the notion that the media is producing “fake news.”

Trump declared that, “The Deputy Editor of the Failing New York Times was just demoted. Should have been Fired! Totally biased and inaccurate reporting. The paper is a Fraud, Zero Credibility. Fake News takes another hit, but this time a big one!”

This attack on the journalism world has caused an uproar in the reliability of all outlets that produce news related content. These outlets are now susceptible to less readers.

Following these attacks, news organizations are forced to lay off their editors due to low funds. Three leading news organizations- Buzzfeed, Huffington Post, and Vice- have all laid off a large amount of their staff. 

With the loss of staff members and low funds, student journalism at the collegiate and high school level is now suffering. Colleges are less willing to fund programs supporting print and online newspapers saying that the student publications don’t align with their mission. This comes from a study conducted by Erica Salkin, a communication studies at Whitworth University.

However, there have been multiple studies going against this argument. Journalism provides a connection between a school’s community and the school itself which is not found anywhere else. The value that a student publication- a voice of the students and identity of the school- has within the community is vast.

All forms of journalism-whether it be student-run, a print publication, or even an online company- is up in question.