Do you agree that "journalists have no place on the playing fields of politics" as The New York Times "Behind the Journalism: How The Times Works" article says? My answer is a definite yes. But how do we navigate the flooded playing field of journalism? On Twitter, for example, everyone is now a journalist – and I mean literally everyone. From academics to politicians, lawyers to influencers, everyone "reports" something. Can you imagine an astronaut in a newsroom or a journalist in a spacecraft? They would feel as alienated as "Major Tom" of David Bowie’s "Space Oddity."

It is true that we read and write less, opting to simply scroll down in app feeds and settle for simply "being aware" of world developments. According to surveys, the time we spend reading the news has decreased to less than six seconds. So as of this moment, I'm assuming I have lost the readers from Generation Z (sorry guys if you’re still here, don’t take it personally!).

The "no time for reading" trend, along with its hitman Twitter and those "on the playing fields of journalism" have hand in hand pulled a gun and shot journalism in the leg. It is now a candidate for a pair of wings, and no one knows when or where its clock will stop but time seems to be running out. We are talking about a murder here, and it is being committed right under our noses, as savagely as those in the Quentin Tarantino movies.

However, not every field is as unlucky as journalism. Some occupations, particularly those in the formal and natural science fields, can still be considered safe havens. In the universe of the said science branches, neurobiologists are "still" neurobiologists, chemists are chemists and geologists are geologists. Politicians or influencers are not out there pontificating about elliptical galaxies, microbial genetics or multilinear algebra on (anti-)social media platforms. Or, is that happening? I am sorry if I have chosen the wrong examples.

Considering all of the messes today, I believe that journalism is facing "thorns."

"A rose’s rarest essence lives in the thorn," Sufi philosopher Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi said, or if you ask Saadi Shirazi, a great Persian poet in the medieval period, "The rose and the thorn, and sorrow and gladness are linked together." So, what are the "roses" in the garden of a contemporary journalist?

It is true that journalism has never been a bed of roses. At the end of the day, journalists focus on humanity’s common problems such as conflict zones, child malnutrition, rapes, wild capitalism, modern slavery and more. From A to Z, this job is hard. Your nerves have to be as solid as steel.

However, what we can praise as "roses" is the enduring fact that journalism protects its role as the most influential tool as the voice of reality for people.

In the recent Russia-Ukraine war, Wolfgang Schwan of Anadolu Agency (AA) took a photo of a wounded woman amid the Russian invasion back in February 2022, which later went viral as a representation of the level of the Russian aggression in the heart of Kharkiv, Ukraine. I believe that when the photo, encompassing the anger, pain, loss and tragedy of a war victim, was shared, it illuminated the stark reality of the ongoing war. The satisfaction of being able to effectively convey such raw tragedy must have been truly unique for Schwan. No amount of money could buy this accomplishment.

In a parallel world where wannabes would not be applauded as journalists or Twitter-like platforms would not be considered trustworthy, journalism would have a different meaning today. In the real world, Kahlil Gibran says, "The optimist sees the rose and not its thorns; the pessimist stares at the thorns, oblivious to the rose." If you agree with him, you have still reasons to sing hymns for journalism, and if you don't, there are countless reasons for requiems. The choice is yours.