There’s a robust debate going on in Linkedin, a social networking site for professionals, about the future of journalism, my profession and my means of livelihood.

It started with a simple question posted by the founder of Journalism in Crisis Coalition, in Auckland, New Zealand, who asked, “Confident on the Future of Journalism”? and gave three choices to journos to click on, Yes, No, Not Sure, and a button to press, which would log in your vote.

Linkedin as you know, is a site where you can network online and through your connections reach out to people whom you wish to deal with professionally. It allows you to upload your resume, find jobs, or a business opportunity, and it helps employers look for suitable candidates for any particular job.

It has 1.3 million members from the UAE, and the two largest number of users of this site are from India (20 million) and the US (74 million).

It is in the US where the initial upheavals in my profession are taking place and where the stage is being set for something entirely different from what journalism is today.

Many mediamen who logged on to this discussion are confident about the future of this profession. A tech journalist believes: “Journalism as an art will always be with us. Someone will always tell us what’s happening in the world and describe it in a way that enlightens and informs us. Is print dead? Absolutely, and that’s just fine. That model is over. I’m more than happy not to have to kill a bunch of trees to read about Tiger Woods.”

A writer from the New York Area has this to say: “I run across many, oh so many readers who cannot tell the difference between opinion and fact, nor can others see when they are being sold rather than informed. The blending of journalism and consumerism, as well as journalism and ideology seems worse than ever, but it is what it is. In that regard, journalism will not die, but information dissemination appears threatened with extinction.”

I got into journalism at a time when back in my hometown there was huge rivalry between newspapers who were trying to capture readers’ interest.

The internet was still something unbelievably far into the future. People read newspapers with their first cup of tea or coffee and would discuss hotly about corrupt politicians, the rising cost of living, and what they thought should be done about the sorry state of affairs.

The readers felt so deeply about the machinations of the politicians that many Iranian restaurants in my hometown, where people sat and talked for hours over one cup of the habit-forming tea, had signs all over the place saying, “Please do not discuss politics”, and, “No spitting”.

One reader became famous because he had an opinion about everything and would shoot off letters to all newspapers. I was in awe of this person when I was growing up and he became my hero, but it’s altogether another story that I too have an opinion on just about any subject.

I think my dad was the first Citizen Journalist. Suddenly, breaking the quiet of a nice morning, we would hear a shout from behind the newspaper, “I will write to the president about this”, and he would stride off to the corner typist shop to dictate the letter.

But unlike today, where the interaction between the media and the user is near instantaneous, I don’t think he ever got an answer to his letter.

I got into journalism because there was nothing else I could do except write and I liked the high of seeing my name in print. Then journalism became a passion and the job of informing and entertaining people became an obsession.