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Paper presented to IAMCR in Mexico City, July 20-24 2009

Future journalists at crossroads Some differences in Norwegian journalism students´ recruitment , ideals and aspirations. Paper presented to IAMCR in Mexico City, July 20-24 2009 Gunn Bjørnsen, Volda University College Jan Fredrik Hovden, Volda University College

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Paper presented to IAMCR in Mexico City, July 20-24 2009

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  1. Future journalists at crossroadsSomedifferences in Norwegianjournalism students´ recruitment, ideals and aspirations Paper presented to IAMCR in Mexico City, July 20-24 2009 Gunn Bjørnsen, Volda University College Jan Fredrik Hovden, Volda University College Rune Ottosen, Oslo University College

  2. Surveyamongjournalism students • Comparingtwocohortsofjournalism students in 2000 and 2008 at Oslo University College and Volda University College • The datasets contains 410 respondents all together • The secondsurvey as a part of a larger study of 19 Nordic shoolsofjournalism • The 2000-cohort wasalsosent a questionnaire three years after graduation • Part ofongoingNorwegian and Nordic project: • Earlierpublications: Hovden, J. F., G. Bjørnsen, R. Ottosen, I. Schultz and H. Zilliacus-Tikkanen (2009). The Nordic Journalists of Tomorrow. An Exploration of First Year Journalism Students in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. Nordicom Review 30(1) • Hovden, J. F., G. Bjørnsen, R. Ottosen (2007)Journalist in the making. Findings form a longitudinal study of Norwegian journalism studies in Journalism Practice, Vol 1 Issue 3.

  3. Methodologicalchallenges • 2000 questionnaire was a paper questionnaire administered by us in the classroom, • The students in 2008 were invited via e-mail to complete the questionnaire online. • Even if the words of the questions in these two questionnaires was identical (or, in one instance, at least very similar), the different methodology used in the distribution of the surveys means that we cannot rule out the possibility of mode differences (sometimes also called mode effects) – that is, that some of the differences we observe between the two time periods are related to somewhat different answers and interpretations because of the distributional mode, and not to “real differences” (Dillman 2006:224-232).

  4. Fall in response rate • We see, for example, a much higher tendency to drop-off – to finish only part of the questionnaire – by those who answered via the web survey. • A somewhat lower response rate, 63% in 2008 as against 80% in 2000.

  5. Differences in socialrecruitment • The students of 2000 and 2008 differ in their demographical and social characteristics in important ways. Most importantly, the students of 2008 are on average much younger than those of 2000, as many more now come to their studies directly from secondary school. This is largely due to educational politics, as from 2001 (the year after our 2000 cohort started their studies) the journalism schools have been required to reserve an increasingly larger quota of entrants with secondary school qualifications only and below 21 years of age. In 2008, the quota was 50%

  6. Change in educationalpattern • In general, the students of 2008 are socially more homogenous than the students of 2000, and more often lack experience of higher education, journalistic work or other forms of paid work. The changing composition of students’ ages also marks more fundamental changes. In 2000, journalism studies, for most students, came at the end of an educational career and usually marked the start (or in many cases, the continuation) of a work career in journalism, but the majority of journalism students in 2008 do not plan to enter the journalistic career directly after studies.

  7. Preferred journalistic themes: less news, more entertainment? • We measure aspirations of journalism students,their stated preferences for working with different general journalistic themes such as culture or sport, and their preference for different places of journalistic work. We asked the students in the questionnaire to list their dreams rather than their probably more sober expectations for the immediate future after journalism school, the questions have the merit of suggesting possible changes in the students’ adherence to dominant journalistic hierarchies:

  8. Pattern in preferedthemes • There is a (vertical) opposition between those who declare themselves interested in working with the least traditionally sanctified types of news (entertainment, accidents, consumer affairs, crime, sport, health) as against those who do not, which, we see, is also correlated to a difference between students at the start, and at the end, of their studies. Modifying this logic is a second (horizontal) opposition separating male and female students, where the female students are characterised by a more frequent preference for cultural and multicultural themesand a less frequent preferences for society/politics, economy, international conflicts and crime. Generally, the number of themes in which they are interested rises from the lower right to the upper left region of the map.

  9. Preferred journalistic themes: less news, more entertainment? • We measure aspirations of journalism students,their stated preferences for working with different general journalistic themes such as culture or sport, and their preference for different places of journalistic work. We asked the students in the questionnaire to list their dreams rather than their probably more sober expectations for the immediate future after journalism school, the questions have the merit of suggesting possible changes in the students’ adherence to dominant journalistic hierarchies.

  10. Less idealism? • In dealing with the issue of the role of journalism in society in an earlier work, we saw a tendency for students to seem less “idealistic” after graduation, spending three years in the news industry. While 75% of students found it important to be a “spokesperson for weak groups” as they ended their studies in 2001, only 65% supported this view after working as a journalist for three years, while only 40% believed it should be “very important” for journalists to “stimulate the public by raising new thoughts and ideas” by the time of graduation. A mere 23% found this very important after working for three years.

  11. More cynisism? • In our recent survey, the students seem overall to be less idealistic than they were seven years earlier. In the survey from 2008, 33% of the students found it “very important” to “stimulate the public with new thoughts and ideas”. Here we also see a gender difference since only 27% of the males supported this attitude. Can this be read as signal of more cynicism and less idealism among the new journalism students? If we look at the ranking of ideals, there are some indications of this “less idealistic” development. The findings from the 2000 survey show that there was a clear “watchdog” tendency among the students, 85% of the respondents finding it “very important” or “important”, that journalists should “be a watchdog over people in power”. In 2008, only 54% of the students shared this attitude.

  12. Preferredworkplace: Onlinejournalism still notattractive • If we see the Oslo and Volda students as one group, there are some interesting trends in the way journalism students look at their future careers. In 2000, only 2% of both male and female students gave online newspapers as their first choice when asked about preference in future jobs. In 2008, there were still just 2% of the female students and 3% of the male students with online newspapers as their first priority. If we include first, second and third choices, the tendency to prefer online journalism increases among the female students, in the period from 2000 to 2008, from 4% to 13%, while the percentage of male students giving online journalism as first, second and third choices is unchanged (16%) in the period.

  13. Newspapers and television most popular • As in 2000, the preferred future jobs in 2008 are in national newspapers and national television, also a clear trend in second and third choices. When students were asked what media they wished to specialise in, there was an increase in those who wanted to specialise in one medium only, despite the fact that business sends clear signals that employees competent in multimedia are preferred. In 2000, the students, on average, wanted to specialise in two media, an average reduced to 1.5 in 2008. Both male and female students gave newspapers as their first choice of specialisation, although it was not as patently the overall first choice as it had been seven years back – in 2000, 73% of the students wanted to specialise in newspapers, compared to 58% .

  14. Foreign ownership and otherthreats

  15. The journalists oftomorrow in a multiculturalsociety • The number of journalists in Norway with multicultural backgrounds is extremely low: approximately 1% of the work force in 2004 (cf the Norwegian union for journalists, probably the percentage has risen slightly since 2004) and around 3% in the journalism schools, both in 2000 and 2005. In the 2008 cohort we find only six Norwegian students (who responded to the survey) with ethnic minority backgrounds

  16. Attitudestowardsimmigration We have mapped the journalism students’ attitude to immigration in both 2000 and 2008 through the extent to which they agree or disagree with the statement: “Immigrants should have easier access to Norway”. In 2000, 58% of the students responded positively (totally agree + somewhat agree), while 9% responded negatively. The students of 2008 show a less positive attitude to immigration, 45% agreeing (10% totally, 35% somewhat) and as many as 55% totally or somewhat disagreeing.

  17. Prejeduice and understanding • In 2000, 58% of the students agreed that journalists confirm prejudice, while this number rose to 71% in 2008. Only around every tenth student totally disagreed in both 2000 and 2008. More students in Oslo find journalists to promote prejudice (9% totally agree) than in more rural Volda (3%). Nordic variations are quite striking here: 44% of the Danish students and only 12% of the Finnish students totally or somewhat agree on this issue (42% in Sweden, 35% in Norway). The high numbers in Denmark most probably reflect the intense discussions on immigration under the rightwing Danish prime minister, and the low numbers in Finland show that immigration there is a relatively new phenomenon.

  18. Students are less in favourofpromotingmulticultural understanding • Regarding the journalism students’ response to an increasingly multicultural society, we clearly see the development of an increasingly negative attitude to immigration among Norwegian students during the last decade. The students of 2008 are also much less in favour of a role for journalism that includes promoting an understanding of, and dialogue between, cultures. On the other hand, the students are still interested in multicultural society as a topic, and are more prepared to work in a multicultural society today than they were at the beginning of the century.

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