All communication fields are being disrupted by the digital distribution of information. But, journalists should not fear this change because their predecessors have successfully faced this evolution many times in the past. Journalism traces its roots to Thucydides, an Athenian general who wrote about current events without attributing activities to the supernatural. Journalists have provided information to citizens in the way they prefer for 2,400 years. Castle towns had troubadours. Town squares had town criers. And coffee houses had pamphleteers. Journalists have evolved over millennia as a catalyst for public conversation.

Journalism will survive with or without newsrooms because the information journalists provide is necessary for every self-governing society. Journalists are stewards of a public forum, informing the discussion, helping citizens reach wiser decisions, and maintaining the rules of conduct for a spirited debate.

The current disruption is mobile and this is wonderful for journalists because citizens now have 24/7 access to news for the first time. The journalists who have practiced at the cusp of each evolution have had the privilege of figuring out how to engage audiences in new ways and tell stories effectively and differently in the new medium and other existing media.