Many journalism school alumni see themselves as journalists regardless of where they work

SAN FRANCISCO – Who and what is a journalist in the age of social media, sponsored content and sagging newspaper circulation?

That is one of the questions the American Press Institute set out to answer in a survey of nearly 10,500 alumni of the nation's leading journalism and communications programs.

The survey found that while just 41 percent of the respondents with journalism degrees are employed by news organizations, sizeable minorities in other fields still look at themselves as practicing journalists.

For example, more than a third of the graduates who described themselves as entrepreneurs and a fifth of those in technology said they are creating content, engaging audiences and doing other work they consider journalism.

The survey results were presented in San Francisco on Thursday at an annual meeting of journalism educators.