An examination of print and broadcast journalism students’ personality traits

Journalists identify with a medium because it aligns with their interests and talents, and they may resist tasks incongruent with their perceived creative strengths. Occupational conflict arises when one’s personality does not align with expected work tasks within a role according to Holland’s theory of vocational choice. We carried out a quantitative survey of aspiring print and broadcast journalists to investigate whether they differed in personality traits (i.e., extraversion, conscientiousness, life values, and journalism degree motivations). Results show broadcast journalism students perceived themselves as more extreme on many measures including extraversion, conscientiousness, and certain life values. Broadcast students were also more likely to choose journalism as a degree for social prestige, sports, reporting, and photography reasons, whereas print students were more likely to choose writing as their primary motivation.