Investigating the degree motivations and role conceptions of journalism students may shed light on the industry’s trajectory. This study analyzes the motivations and perceptions of journalism students from two U.S. universities. Results show that students were motivated to pursue journalism for a mix of reasons, including civic engagement, a prestigious career, creativity in multimedia and writing, and an independent and nonroutine lifestyle. Respondents suggest that students view journalism’s role as providing political accountability, delivering content that connects with audiences, telling stories, and setting the political agenda.
BaleriaG. (2022). The journalism behind journalism: Going beyond the basics to train effective journalists in a shifting landscape. Routledge.
3.
BenderJ.DavenportL.DragerM.FedlerF. (2024). In Writing and reporting for the media (13th ed.). Oxford University Press.
4.
BlomR. (2019). The irony at the heart of “fake” news and “alternative” facts. In Jimenez MurguíaS. (Ed.), Trumping truth: Essays on the destructive power of “alternative facts” (pp. 39–52). McFarland & Company.
5.
BlomR.DavenportL. D. (2012). Searching for the core of journalism education: Program directors disagree on curriculum priorities. Journalism & Mass Communication Educator, 67(1), 70–86. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077695811428885
6.
BoweB.NielsenC.KooliA.SomaiR.GosenJ. (2021). After the revolution: Tunisian journalism students and a news media in transition. Journalism, 24(3), 597–615. https://doi.org/10.1177/14648849211018942
7.
BroersmaM.GrahamA. (2012). Social media as a beat: Tweets as a news source during the 2010 British and Dutch elections. Journalism Practice, 6(3), 403–419. https://doi.org/10.1080/17512786.2012.663626
Brown KilgoD. (2021). Radically transforming programs and syllabi. In DanielsG. L.BlomR. (Ed.), Teaching race: Struggles, strategies, and scholarship in the mass communications classroom (pp. 2–10). Rowman & Littlefield.
CarpenterS.GrantA. E.HoagA. (2016). Journalism degree motivations: The development of a scale. Journalism & Mass Communication Educator, 71(1), 5–27. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077695814551835
12.
CarpenterS.HoagA.GrantA. E. (2018). An examination of print and broadcast journalism students’ personality traits. Journalism & Mass Communication Educator, 73(2), 147–166. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077695816688315
13.
CarpenterS.HoagA.GrantA. E.BoweB. J. (2015). An examination of how academic advancement of U.S. journalism students relates to their degree motivations, values, and technology use. Journalism & Mass Communication Educator, 70(1), 58–74. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077695814551834
14.
ClarkeJ. (2019). “Rope. Tree. Journalist. Some assembly required.” Donald Trump’s war on journalism. In Jimenez MurguíaS. (Ed.), Trumping truth: Essays on the destructive power of “alternative facts” (pp. 53–64). McFarland & Company.
15.
ColemanR.LeeJ. Y.YaschurC.MeaderA. P.McElroyK. (2018). Why be a journalist? US students’ motivations and role conceptions in the new age of journalism. Journalism, 19(6), 800–819.
16.
Cretser-HartensteinJ.GoldG.BeltK. (2024). The student-to-journalist pipeline: Attitudes, motivations, and expressed likelihood of choosing a journalism career. Journalism & Mass Communication Educator, 97(1), 103–117.
17.
Delli CarpiniM. X. (2018). Alternative facts: Donald Trump and the emergence of a new U.S. media regime. In BoczkowskiP. J.PapacharissiZ. (Eds.), Trump and the media (pp. 17–23). The Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press.
GreenwoodS. (2024). Trust v want: Tracking changes in young people’s desire to study journalism against their trust in news. Journalism & Mass Communication Educator. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/10776958241236103
22.
HanuschF.CliffordK.DaviesK.EnglishP.FultonJ.LindgrenM.O’DonnellP.PriceJ.RichardsI.ZionL. (2016). For the lifestyle and a love of creativity: Australian students’ motivations for studying journalism. Media International Australia, 160(1), 101–113.
HanuschF.MelladoC.BoshoffP.HumanesM. L.De LeónS.PereiraF.Márquez RamírezM.RosesS.SuberviF.WyssV. (2015). Journalism students’ motivations and expectations of their work in comparative perspective. Journalism & Mass Communication Educator, 70(2), 141–160.
HuxfordJ.HopperK. M. (2022). Training journalism students in a Post-Truth Era. In Kahl, Jr.D. H.AtayA. (Eds.), Pedagogies of Post-Truth (pp. 19–38). Lexington Books.
27.
MadisonE.HoppT.SantanaA. D.StansberryK. (2018). A motivational perspective on mass communication students’ satisfaction with their major: Investigating antecedents and consequences. Journalism & Mass Communication Educator, 73(1), 50–66. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077695816687408
28.
PerreaultM. F.PerreaultG. P. (2021). Journalists on COVID-19 journalism: Communication ecology of pandemic reporting. American Behavioral Scientist, 65(7), 976–991. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764221992813
PjesivacI. (2020). What moves young people to journalism in a transitional country? Intrinsic and extrinsic motivations for working in journalism in Serbia. Journalism, 21(11), 1676–1693. https://doi.org/10.1177/1464884917738428
31.
RobinsonS. (2023). How journalists engage: A theory of trust building, identities, and care. Oxford University Press.
32.
RosenblumN. L.MuirheadR. (2019). A lot of people are saying: The new conspiracism and the assault on democracy. Princeton University Press.
33.
RussellA. (2017). Journalism as activism: Recoding media power. John Wiley & Sons.
34.
RyanR. M.DeciE. L. (2017). Self-determination theory: Basic psychological needs in motivation, development, and wellness. Guilford Press.
WirtzJ. W.SparksJ. V. (2022). Red state slump? Evidence of a post-2016 election decline in journalism enrollment in “Trump states.” Presented at the annual conference of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Detroit.
WuY.GarrisonB. (2021). Private and public ownership in the drive toward digital innovations in newspaper newsrooms. Newspaper Research Journal, 42(1), 127–147.
