I want to be a journalist: looking for motivation in journalism

 María-de-los-Ángeles Pastor-Alonso, Huelva (Spain)

https://doi.org/10.3916/C34-2010-03-19

Keywords

Journalism, professional characteristics, social responsibility, vocation, lifestyle, youngsters

Abstract

This paper has an approach to the different characteristics which make up the public’s image of journalists, analysing the motivations behind the decision of those who became and those who want to become journalists. In the case of professional journalists, there is a theoretical framework from which to analyze the essential influences on the decision to become a journalist: we can underline the development of personal talents, and the social influence of journalism and its existential possibilities. These reasons help explain some professional behaviour and attitudes, and point to why journalism is a questionable profession in Spain nowadays. The ideal profile of a journalist inevitably influences the value placed on the work of journalists, and also affects the decision of those who contemplate a career in journalism. Moreover, these youngsters who want to become journalists – whose motivations are contrasted in an investigation into students in the final year of High School and the first year of university - accept the usual stereotypes of journalists, even those which present a kind of mythical image, but these youngsters are also conscious of the need for personal criticism. They call for the return to the most important values and qualities of journalism to develop professional competence.

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