No. Journalism isn't a pillar of democracy. The ancient greeks who invented democracy didn't have journalism. When the US was founded, we didn't have journalism. Also, dictatorships have journalism. Nazi Germany, Soviet Union, Communist China all had journalism.

> The well educated professionals who deep, lengthy dives into corruption, raw data, etc.

Do you think really think this is what journalists do? The older I get and the more I learn about the history of journalism, the more skeptical I get about this claim.

> How will democracy survive if no is being paid to spends weeks, years, to go deep on a subject and citizens can't be fully informed?

How did democracy come into existence without journalism?

You could argue free speech/free press are one of the pillars of modern democracy. If you look at who is attacking free speech/free press, you'll notice it is idealogically driven corporate journalists.