ABSTRACT

Mark Hanna and Karen Sanders use data from a widely distributed survey of journalism students to compare undergraduate and postgraduate entrants to journalism in terms of their career motivations and views about journalism’s societal roles. Their fi ndings suggest that while there was only a modest difference in students’ stated commitments to public service journalism, postgraduates were more disposed to follow careers as news reporters and to support journalists’ role to aid public discussion of national policy. Hanna and Sanders argue that editors should realize that journalism undergraduates and postgraduates are distinct groups, with the former revealing a greater diversity of socioeconomic backgrounds, a more adversarial attitude to public offi cials, and a perception of a career in journalism as creative and unconventional. They conclude that “these qualities may be particularly needed now, because journalism is seeking to refresh its narrative forms . . . as part of wider attempts to retain and grow its audiences.”