It's become increasingly clear to a growing number of people that the Internet, and more recently Social Media, are empowering individuals to tell their own story... 1 tweet at a time. Victims, Terrorists, Dictators, Celebrities, Politicians, Countries and even every day citizens get to publish their message, their way, free of pesky intermediaries called 'Journalists'.

I've been writing about this, in one form or another, for pretty much as long as I can remember. Certainly since I read the Cluetrain Manifesto some 10+ years ago.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying there's no place for Journalists/Editorial Voice. I believe the ultimate answer is the intersection of social conversation and editorial curation.

That being said, However, I was tickled by this post on Vox today where Senator Barbara Boxer announced her retirement using the traditional TV Journalist/Politician interview format - with her grandson playing the role of journalist.

I'm sure she didn't mean it this way, but it's a stark example of how the Journalist could be seen as disposable, interchangeable or even totally unnecessary in a wide range of traditional journalism cases.

Given this accelerating trend, journalists, and media companies, are running out of time to find their (essential) place in the future of story telling and journalism.