Journalism has been a punching bag of a profession in recent years, getting knocked around from all angles.

The business model of newspapers – delivering paper products to doorsteps – drooped in the past decade in competition with more efficient and dynamic digital media. TV (and radio) news, in the meantime, lost some of their bearings as many broadcasts morphed into “entertainment.”

Audiences, instead of editors, have taken control of the news agenda and shattered public discourse into countless echo chambers.

And whenever things don’t go their political ways, Democrats and Republicans often blame hostile media perception. Instead of accepting responsibility for their party’s actions, they create diversions with tropes about how “the media is biased,” certainly out to get them and, when really desperate, that journalism consists of “the lowest form of life.”

What we need now in the Fourth Estate, though, isn’t a bunch of crestfallen complainers, easily bullied and despondent. Those with weak knees and soft spines aren’t going to survive this sort of chaotic societal transition. The next generation of journalists won’t remember what it was like before the internet and social media and smartphones.

So the rest of us need to quit the forlorn gazing into the past and plunge forward with confidence that journalism can — and will — thrive again, if we fully embrace it as an ideology and not as a profit-oriented venture of delivering higher-priced atoms (over lower-priced bits).

Journalism represents one of those core aspects of humanity — as part of our deeply rooted desire to share timely information with one another — and that activity deserves serious attention, serious practitioners and serious students.

As for that next generation, students began swarming this week to the University of Hawaii to start fall classes and ponder their futures. As they explore the campus and sample different programs, I have been thinking about what I will say to those who ask, “Why should I study journalism?”

I know I cannot offer promises of riches and comfort. I cannot say the journalistic path in life is easy or without strife. I know telling your parents that you want to study journalism will probably be about as well-received as saying you want to major in philosophy, theater or English literature.

But, then again, what would be the point of life without the joys created by philosophy, theater, English literature and the many other fields of thought not directly tied to vocations?

Journalism represents one of those core aspects of humanity — as part of our deeply rooted desire to share timely information with one another — and that activity deserves serious attention, serious practitioners and serious students who think thoroughly about journalism as both an art and a craft.

Here are a few reasons parents should be exceptionally pleased to hear that their children want to pursue journalism studies.

Every Job Involves Communication

Try to name one professional endeavor (besides serving as the strictest of Benedictine monks) that does not involve communication; at the minimum, in any occupation, people have to communicate with each other and their clients or collaborators to sustain their existence.

Businesses have to describe to customers why their services and products are essential. Community leaders have to develop and determine their strategies before recruiting others to help. Employees of all types have to obtain accurate and reliable information, from quality sources, and then act upon and share that information, including results of their actions.

These types of communication activities are all related to the core skills that every journalism student learns. Because they are trained to be great researchers, evaluators of information and distributors of content, journalism students are highly valued in all sorts of organizational contexts.

Writing is an expression of thinking, and those who write with skill also tend to process and express their thoughts proficiently.

One of the most fundamental aspects of any journalism program is an emphasis on developing good writing skills. Every journalism student therefore grows as a writer, as part of this training, and being a good writer is a distinct competitive advantage in the job market, regardless of the chosen career field after college.

As less emphasis has been placed on writing fundamentals in K-12 schools, only about a quarter of American high school students have been scoring at proficient levels in writing. Journalism students tend to be proficient writers, to begin with, and as they study writing in college, they often become good – or even great – at it.

The journalistic writing mode is relatively straightforward, information-rich and supported by factual evidence, a style adaptable to a lot of purposes.

The writer of any report, memo or other correspondence gets to have significant influence over its agenda, objectives and tactics. In other words, that person gets the power to shape perceptions.

Journalism Students Are Competitive

Pretty much every business and organization today needs to compete in some way to survive. Journalists are competition-hardened, sparring daily in the arena of public discourse, with every story they create compared to every other one being produced, that day and beyond.

This competitive environment steels journalism students with the armor and weapons they need to survive wherever they venture.

While it is true that not every journalism student earns a job in the field after graduation, the most devoted and passionate students always find a place, and the ones who do not, often end up excelling in other fields.

Writing is an expression of thinking, and those who write with skill also tend to process and express their thoughts proficiently.

I have known journalism majors serving as excellent police officers and lawyers, teachers and administrators, managers and business owners, as well as all sorts of corporate, government and nonprofit spokespeople.

While we want our majors to have opportunities in the field, and media organizations throughout Hawaii are stuffed with our graduates, we also want our journalism degree to transcend any particular work activity. In that way, our graduates are always ready for the next challenge and also do not feel trapped in any specific career path.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, people change jobs about a dozen times between the ages of 18 and 48. Many (if not most) people are destined to work in jobs that didn’t even exist when they started kindergarten.

So our higher education is better when it is focused upon learning strategies, within a disciplinary context, rather than upon filling immediate industry concerns.

The Need For Journalism Is Great

Being a journalist is one of the best jobs, and having journalism training, or high media literacy, prepares a person for a life immersed in our heavily mediated ecosystem, regardless of how those skills are used, and for what.

Journalists seem to be overly sheepish and defensive today about their place and role in society, and the prospects of their chosen profession, primarily because of the failures of the business folks in the industry to adapt.

News flash: Journalists aren’t in charge of the business. They are in charge of creating great stories about their communities and sharing those openly with their audiences. So they need to help return the public focus about the profession to the journalistic work itself, not the profit-margin levels.

If that happens, students will more readily consider journalism studies alongside other popular majors, such as business, education, psychology, sociology and oceanography.

In the post-Watergate era, journalism programs drew students to universities in droves with the potential of making the world a better place through reporting and writing.

Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel argue in “The Elements of Journalism” that the average person already – and more than ever – operates like a journalist, without even realizing it. Maybe additional training in this area could benefit more of the masses.

Maybe the post-“Spotlight” era is about to usher into journalism another wave of idealistic do-gooders. If they come, they have many good reasons to be here.