Laugh it up people

At best, I can expect a raised eyebrow and a condescending “oh really,” when I tell someone I’m a journalism student.

No, I’m actually a duck. Yes, really, I’m a journalism student.

At worst, I can expect flat out laughter and something a long the lines of the following:

“Journalism, isn’t that a dying field?”

“There’s still jobs in that?”

“How are you going to make a living?”

I know I picked the career field that doesn’t make much money.

That doesn’t bother me.

I’ve accepted that even though some people can’t seem to find the shift button to capitalize “I” or know the difference between “your” and “you’re,” I’ll be called out on social media for any and all mistakes I make.

That doesn’t bother me.

I know that my work, the stories I spend hours on, often end up in the trash.

That doesn’t bother me. None of this bothers me, because I know what journalists are for.

What bothers me is other people don’t remember what journalists are for.

We are the watchdogs. We are the truth-seekers.

We ask the uncomfortable questions no one else will. We are spit on, threatened, beaten, imprisoned and even killed for you. To let you know what’s happening, because it’s your right to know. Because we want you to have the power of knowledge.

And all I hear is, “So you’re a liberal?”

…

Really?

Honestly, I think if this is the attitude of America, we deserve Brian Williams.

We deserve reporters that give fame to college shooters.

We deserve news organizations that won’t report stories because it hurts the image of their advertisers.

I’d like to say we deserve better, but do we? Do we when it’s a game to poke fun at journalists?

Be angry. Demand better. Feel something other than amusement people because this isn’t funny. Journalism isn’t supposed to be funny, it’s supposed to be true.

I’m not saying this so you’ll pick up a newspaper or flip through a news app.

I’m saying this so you’ll remember. Remember the days when people wouldn’t leave for work in the morning without reading the news. Remember the days when people NEEDED to know what was happening around them. Remember what it felt like to be informed. Remember why the news is here in the first place because I guarantee you it wasn’t so Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert could launch their comedy shows.

We are here for you. You are the audience, we are the writers. It’s not our stories we are reporting, it’s yours.

When you’re laughing at journalists, you’re laughing at yourselves.

— Katie Lambert is a senior in print journalism. She enjoys running outside, reading and occasionally eating her weight in Swedish Fish. Follow her @klamb92 or email her at katie.l.lambert26@gmail.com.