The Neutral and Participant Perspectives--Do They Have Unique Meanings for Magazine Students?

A total of 123 upper-level and graduate students in journalism completed a questionnaire on beliefs about newspaper work. Most of the students were in advanced writing and editing courses, while 32 were in magazine courses. Questions in the survey dealt with beliefs related to James Grunig's theory of information systems. Factor analysis suggested a single problem recognition factor, two concepts relating to decision rules, two on constraints, and a single audience-orientation variable. In general, students rated newsroom decision making as complex and high on uncertainty (problem recognition). They saw a strong need for audience study. Also, while expressing a preference for formal newspaper makeup and high regard for objectivity, they tended to downgrade "news elements" in news assessment, event reporting, and sensationalism. Although students in both magazine and nonmagazine courses agreed on beliefs about the newspaper setting in general, the magazine course students did stress perceived audience interests more and their own preferences less in newspaper editing. Overall, the data suggest that the "neutral" and "participant" perspectives underlie belief clusters held by today's journalism students. (Author/RL)