INTRODUCTION"Society demands that the men who take care of its health are professionals in the highest sense of the term: professionally trained, professional in their ethics, professionally responsible. Society requires professional training and conduct professionalism of the men who satisfy its needs in legal matters. The fact that society demands less of the men who contribute through news to its knowledge and attitudes is one of the great and dangerous inconsistencies shaping the twentieth century (Schramm, 1947, p. 90).”McLoed and Hawley (as cited in Wilson, 1995) aptly clarified, “a recurring journalistic controversy has involved the question of whether journalism is a true profession or simply a craft.” Sparked primarily by Lippmann and Dewey, extending into the penny press era (mid-1980s) and subsequently, the attempt to commercialize news (late 1980s) into the present era, a controversial debate has existed over the distinction of journalism as a profession (Wilson, 1995). Encapsulated in a democratic homeland since the dawn of time, media systems are routinely hailed as the “fourth estate,” with its journalists often hailed as the “watchdogs” of such a society. Serving as "gatekeepers" to the larger society and fulfilling the traditional role of journalism, the media (as a whole) exist as powerful "knowledge tools" that perform the function of providing information to the masses in a public sphere, where issues can be discussed, justified and contested (Scannell, 1995, p. 17). Evidently, media workers play a fundamental role in our society; however, their status in the field of professions is not defined. Although the above emphasizes the difficult situation at the heart of ... half of the document ... 1995). The NWICO Debate, MA Unit 20 MA in Mass Communications (for distance learning). Center for Mass Communications Research, University of Leicester, UK. Nygren. G; Witschge T. (2009). Journalism: a profession under pressure? Journal of Media Business Studies, 6, 37-59 Scannell, P. (1995). Social aspects of media history, Unit 9 of the Master in Mass Communications (distance learning). Center for Mass Communications Research, University of Leicester, UK.Schramm, W. (1947). Journalism education: vocation, general or professional? The Journal of Education, 2, 90-98Wilson, G. R. (1995). Is journalism an authentic profession? What the literature has revealed. Paper presented at the AEJMC Southeast Colloquium, Newspaper Division. Retrieved from http://www.southerner.net/fast/JNPRO.html