Journalism students

Left-wing and politically motivated

Bibliographic Data

ID7477268
AuthorsDavid Nicolas Hopmann (0000-0003-1089-0193, University of Southern Denmark, corresponding author), Christian Elmelund-Præstekær (0000-0002-5095-8917, University of Southern Denmark), Klaus Levinsen (0000-0003-0471-1566, University of Southern Denmark)
Year2010
Volume11
Issue6
Pages661-674
Publication date2010-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournalism (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1464-8849 • E-ISSN: 1741-3001
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/1464884910379706
OpenAlexW2160076499
LanguageEN
Citations received8
References cited26

In both the public and scientific debates on journalism in western countries, it would appear to be taken for granted that journalists’ political opinions can influence their professional output. Since journalists tend to lean more to the left than the general population, it is often assumed that media content has a left-wing bias. This article discusses and analyses the political motivations among journalism students. A case study of Danish journalism students indicates that most of the students were not politically motivated when choosing to pursue an education in journalism. Left-wing students tend to be slightly more politically motivated; however, the differences between the respective groups of journalism students are minor. Moreover, other sources of motivation are deemed more important, irrespective of political opinions. The case study concludes that political motivation plays a limited role in the decision to study journalism

Journalism · Media studies · Minor (academic · Political science · Politics · Population · Public relations · Sociology · Technical Journalism · Media Influence and Politics · Media Studies and Communication · Social Media and Politics · Law

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