Why be a journalist? US students’ motivations and role conceptions in the new age of journalism

Abstract

This mixed-methods study using a national, random sample of journalism students explores their motivations for majoring in journalism and conceptions of the roles of journalists. It showed many similarities among students today and yesterday and some differences between students and professionals. Students’ ranking of the importance of roles compared to professionals showed no significant correlation. They still recognize the same four main roles of journalists, but rank them in a different order and define them differently. These future journalists see ‘soft news’ as being on equal footing, if not more important, than traditional ‘hard news’. They consider it fair game for journalists to join the conversation about important issues of the day. They see citizen journalists as not only taking over more of the adversarial duties of journalists but also increasing the amount of information and opinion that people have access to, making the interpretive role of journalists more necessary as someone needs to sift through all this information and let people know what is valid. Suggestions for educators are discussed.

Fantasy, Pragmatism and Journalistic Socialisation: UK Journalism Students’ Aspirations and Motivations

“…This would be consistent with those studies that have found material success to be of little interest to journalism students (Bowers, 1974;Endres and Wearden, 1990), though in the end, poor salary is one of the main reasons why journalists leave their profession (Weaver et al, 2007). While a recent US study identified "fame seekers" (Coleman et al, 2016) as a growing motivation for journalism students in an increasing celebrity culture, this does not appear to be the case in amongst UK students.…”

“…Wu and Weaver, 1998) and North American contexts (e.g. Carpenter, Grant and Hoag, 2016;Coleman et al, 2016). Existing research finds motivations are diverse and varied, but generally fall under three categories: intrinsic motivations related to personal creativity, motivations related to journalism as an exciting and diverse profession, and motivations related to the importance of journalism in society (Carpenter et al, 2015).…”

Pre-professional journalistic culture of Cuba, Ecuador and Venezuela. Motivation, expectations and professional experience of students of Journalism and Social Communication

“…The fact that Cuban, Ecuadorian and Venezuelan students do not identify among their main motivations to do the career of Journalism the possibility of earning money, could be a factor associated to the political system of these countries, close to the socialist ideas that advocate a more egalitarian social organization among all the people directed to the social and common good and not to the economic one. However, the results found in recent decades by Bowers (1974), Endres and Wearden (1990), Smith (1987), Crawford et al (2013) and Coleman et al (2016) in their studies on American students showed a similar altruistic trend. Therefore, one might think that certain normative ideals of journalism tend to be shared by the students of this profession around the world, or, in another sense, that the inclination of journalists for material success is developed a posteriori.…”

Gazetecilik Becerileri Üzerine Bir Alan Araştırması: Türkiye Örneği

“…Gerek güncel gazetecilik literatüründen (Coleman et al, 2018;Drok, 2013, pp. 151-152;Örnebring, & Mellado, 2018;Willnat, Weaver, & Choi, 2013) gerekse günümüz gazetecilik pratiklerinden derlenerek oluşturulan bu vasıf kategorileri altına karma olarak yerleştirilen seçeneklerin her biri, temelde araçsal (pratik) ve/veya bilişsel (düşünsel) nitelikte gazetecilik mesleğine özgü beceri bileşenlerini temsil etmektedir.…”