After reading the final chapter to Rodger Streitmatter’s Mightier Than the Sword, an aspiring journalist cannot help but feel a little awed by the power and impact of the fourth estate. Journalism has the ability to present the public with the image of a different future. A future that corrects the mistakes of the present and builds a better tomorrow.

This future is based on the opinions and beliefs held by the journalist that writes about it; however, the power to enact that future resides in the public. If the present situation appears to be misogynistic, pessimistic and xenophobic, journalists can reveal that nature. It is then up to the rest of the world to change it.

This power to present beliefs and opinions can be as far-reaching and political as Ida Tarbell revealing the darker side of John D. Rockefeller or as personal as Roger Ebert making everyone believe movies can be art.

Not everyone will change the world, but everyone believes there are ways the world can change. Journalism gives people a platform and a voice to express those changes. History shows us that, when a voice is heard, a journalist can change the world.